A Rancher in Laikipia County was early Sunday Morning shot and critically injured by unknown criminals who laid an ambush on her.

Lucy Wambui Jennings, aged 50, had left her home to attend a morning Church service in Rumuruti town when she was way-laid by unknown assailants who shot at her.

She suffered a gunshot wound at the back of her head and her arm during the attack.

Her family members and friends managed to rescue her and rushed her to Rumuruti Sub-County Hospital. She was later taken to Pope Benedict XVI Hospital in Nyahururu where she is admitted.

Njihia Mbugua, her brother, lamented that there have been similar attacks before.

According to Rumuruti Business Community Chairman Fredrick Mwangi, this was not the first time the rancher has been targeted by criminals.

He regretted that the expansive Jennings Farm located several kilometres away from Rumuruti town had been invaded by illegal grazers who had also built shanties.

Efforts to evict them from her farm have always landed in courts as they claim ownership of part of the land.

Salama Ward MCA Mugambi Gatati has called on the government to move with speed and ensure the suspects are brought to book.

Security officers in Laikipia West are in pursuit of illegal grazers believed to have been behind the shooting of the rancher while at her farm within Thome location.

Residents want security to be enhanced in areas where such conflicts between illegal grazers and landowners are rampant. 

They are also calling on the government to deploy more National Police Reservists in areas prone to such attacks to weed out illegal grazers and individuals in possession of unlicensed firearms.

Security agencies had been placed on high alert to ward off any incidences of banditry and armed conflicts.