One person was shot dead and two others were injured on Sunday, October 12, over a land dispute in Viraj Estate, Katani, Machakos County.

The incident occurred after a land owner, identified as Farah, called the victim, Samuel Maina Muiruri, to discuss a business deal. 

However, the meeting took a twist when Farah and the suspected shooter started kicking Muiruri.

According to a witness, the incident attracted a mob that intervened to help Muiruri from being assaulted by the two. It was during the fracas that the gunman started shooting in the air to scare the mob from getting near him.

“I found that they had cornered him outside the car while they themselves were inside, pointing a gun at him. A fracas started, and that guy came out and began shooting in the air,” a witness recounted. 

Muiruri’s death sparked violent protests, with the Katani locals turning to the vehicle used by Farah and the shooter to get to the scene.

The angry protestors vandalized the motor vehicle before setting it on fire, before marching to Mavoko SNP police Station wanting to lynch Farah.

Police officers intervened and took the landowner into custody as investigations into the land dispute continue. The police have also launched a manhunt for the suspected shooter.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the dispute was triggered by a vandalized gate on Farah’s property.

However, the Katani residents have insisted the dispute was about land ownership.

Muiruri, who is an accountant for a local welfare group dealing in land sales in Katani, is reported to have sold a parcel of land to Farah before another claimant surfaced, demanding payment for the same property.

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The incident comes days after Professor Thomas Onyango Mboya, a lecturer at the Technical University of Kenya (TUK), was hacked to death by two young men over a land dispute in Mbita, Homa Bay County.

The land dispute arose after some of Mboya’s neighbours allegedly encroached on his land in Kakrigu village.

The university lecturer then sought the intervention of the area chief and a land surveyor to help determine the boundaries of his land.

However, Professor Mboya and his father went to the disputed land ahead of the chief and the surveyor.

On arrival in the disputed land, the two young men, armed with pangas, attacked Mboya and his father.

Mboya sustained severe head injuries and died on the spot, while his father was also injured in the attack.