{"id":3133,"date":"2025-06-30T12:23:51","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T12:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/?p=3133"},"modified":"2025-06-30T12:23:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T12:23:54","slug":"kenyans-outraged-over-charles-owinos-remarks-on-boniface-shooting-he-abused-the-policeman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/2025\/06\/30\/kenyans-outraged-over-charles-owinos-remarks-on-boniface-shooting-he-abused-the-policeman\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenyans Outraged Over Charles Owino\u2019s Remarks on Boniface Shooting : “He Abused the Policeman”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nairobi, June 30- Kenyans have expressed outrage after former police spokesperson Charles Owino appeared to defend the police officer who shot Boniface Kariuki<\/strong>, the hawker critically injured during anti-police brutality protests in Nairobi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on Citizen TV<\/em>, Owino claimed that Kariuki had verbally insulted the officer before being shot, suggesting that the provocation may have triggered the fatal response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat boy abused the policeman,\u201d Owino said. \u201cBut as an officer, you must have restraint\u2014use a rubber bullet. Look at the damage this has caused the image of the police.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Owino condemned the shooting, he implied that the young officer who opened fire may have struggled to manage his emotions in the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSuch a young boy\u2026 if you abuse him, you know what may happen,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His remarks came just as Kariuki\u2019s family revealed that he had been declared brain dead, with bullet fragments still lodged in his brain. The shooting, which took place on June 17<\/strong> along Mondlane Street<\/strong> in Nairobi\u2019s CBD, has fueled national anger and renewed calls for accountability within the police force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The officers involved\u2014Klinzy Baraza Masinde and Duncan Kiprono\u2014have been interdicted and are under investigation by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Owino also defended Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen, who last week instructed police to shoot anyone who approached a station, calling the protests an “attempted coup.” Owino said such remarks often come from frustration and do not amount to official policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Kenyans online slammed Owino\u2019s statements, accusing him of victim-blaming and normalizing police violence. Many pointed out that the protests were largely peaceful and that nothing justified the shooting of an unarmed man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public continues to demand justice for Kariuki, who became a symbol of the Gen Z-led movement against state violence and impunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nairobi, June 30- Kenyans have expressed outrage after former police spokesperson Charles Owino appeared to defend the police officer who shot Boniface Kariuki, the hawker critically injured during anti-police brutality protests in Nairobi. Speaking on Citizen TV, Owino claimed that Kariuki had verbally insulted the officer before being shot, suggesting that the provocation may have triggered the fatal response. \u201cThat boy abused the policeman,\u201d Owino said. \u201cBut as an officer, you must have restraint\u2014use a rubber bullet. Look at the damage this has caused the image of the police.\u201d Though Owino condemned the shooting, he implied that the young officer who opened fire may have struggled to manage his emotions in the moment. \u201cSuch a young boy\u2026 if you abuse him, you know what may happen,\u201d he added. His remarks came just as Kariuki\u2019s family revealed that he had been declared brain dead, with bullet fragments still lodged in his brain. The shooting, which took place on June 17 along Mondlane Street in Nairobi\u2019s CBD, has fueled national anger and renewed calls for accountability within the police force. The officers involved\u2014Klinzy Baraza Masinde and Duncan Kiprono\u2014have been interdicted and are under investigation by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA). Owino …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3135,"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3133\/revisions\/3135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}