James Archibald / Cape Town, July 31, () - A lone intruder who had gained entry into Kenyan Vice President William Ruto’s rural home was killed by police after an 18-hour siege on Sunday morning.
The intruder, initially armed with only a knife, stabbed one of the security officers at the gate to the residence and managed to hide in a building after taking the soldier’s firearm, police confirmed yesterday.
“The assailant has been shot dead and the weapon he had snatched recovered from him. The siege is over,” Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet confirmed on Sunday morning.
“We have two bodies here. One of the assailant and another one of an officer whom he had stabbed and held as a shield for this long,” said a witness told Kenya’s Standard Media.
The man was killed by General Service Unit personnel who had flown there from the capital Nairobi. Witnesses told Standard Media that the officers had to use an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) from the military to get closer to where the attacker was hiding.
“He had shot at the APC as it went near the house but as he opened the curtain to check he was mowed by police bullets,” said another witness.
The intruder arrived at around midday on Saturday, shortly after Ruto had departed his home, Boinnet said. The intruder, who was a known hawker in the area, asked to enter so that he could get money from one of the security guards that he said owed him money. An argument ensued and the attacker stabbed the security officer and took his firearm.
Boinnet said said the motive of the attack was not known but investigations had been launched.
Following the siege, the vice president condemned the attack on his rural home and urged Kenyans not to be distracted by those working to bring down unity in the country.
''Those whose mission is to create fear, despondency and division will be defeated,'' he said, while also passing on condolences to the “to the family of the gallant soldier Joseph Makembo, who died in line of duty”.
