A family in Kakamega County has been plunged into mourning after two brothers died Saturday in a tussle over trees.

The incident at a village in Eregi, Ikolomani East also left several others injured including a police officer.

Residents and family members said the brothers started fighting over the right to cut down trees on the land left behind by their late father.

They said police responding to the ensuing scuffle fired several shots, and when everything went silent, the two brothers lay dead.

"They came running and entered my house, one was holding a machete and started cutting their sister," a neighbour said.

"Gun shots were heard, I don't know how they caught my husband. They went on for a while," a widow to one of the deceased said.

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale said in a statement via X that he knows the family at a personal level.

He said the owner of the land, late Mzee Shisanya Angote, sold part of it to him after subdividing it and sharing it amongst his sons and daughters.

The senator said he built a polytechnic on the land he bought from the old man after the subdivision.

"It is very sad that his two sons have lost their lives while interfering with what their father gave to their sister, Madam Maureen Bunoro Shisany," he said. 

The senator wished those injured in the melee quick recovery and urged residents and family to maintain peace as security organs work to restore order.