Tension grips Kiambu over killing of 12-year-old girl by stray bullet during Saba Saba protests
According to Bridget's mother, the bullet pierced their living room wall and struck her in the head
A family in Ndumberi, Kiambu County is among those mourning after their 12-year-old daughter was killed by a stray bullet while sitting at home on Monday evening during the Saba Saba protests.
According to her mother, Lucy Ngugi, her daughter, Bridget Njoki, a Grade 7 pupil, was watching television around 6:20 pm when gunfire erupted nearby.
Reports indicate her killing has sparked protests in Kiambu town as angry residents demand justice and accountability over the police brutality witnessed on Monday.
According to Bridget’s mother, the bullet pierced their living room wall and struck her in the head.
“When I turned around, I saw my daughter with blood on her hands and thought she had suffered an electric shock. But as I touched her to find out where she was bleeding, she suddenly became weak and collapsed to the floor,” she said.
“It’s then that I saw a bullet hole in her head and I started screaming,” she added.
Mrs Ngugi said she immediately called her husband and with the help of neighbours, well-wishers, and the community, they rushed her to St Brigid’s Hospital.
“There, doctors scanned her and found a bullet lodged in her head. They said it had penetrated her skull and brain,” she told journalists, while recounting the traumatising incident.
She was among two people who have been confirmed to have died during the protests in Kiambu County, the other one being Dennis Mutuma Mwangi, aged 23 years, was shot dead outside his home in Kiambu town while running away from anti-riot police.
Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba claimed the killing was as a result of the recent shoo-to-kill order issued by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen.
“The death of an innocent 10 yr old girl from a bullet that got her in her home in kiriguini,Ndumberi Kiambu county is very painful. The girl didn’t go to school to be safe but the bullet got her from her home and laid dead. I’m in pain and defeated to see many young people die by the bullets out of demonstrations. We can confirm that The recent order to shoot to kill by the Security minister was taken seriously. But why shoot to kill an innocent girl? May her spirit trace her killers. May her Guardian angel take over. I’m in true pain,” she said on her X account.
