By Kamadi Amata

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has approved murder charges against police officer Klinzy Barasa Masinde, who is accused of fatally shooting hawker Boniface Kariuki during the June 17 protests in Nairobi against extrajudicial killings.

Barasa and his colleague, Constable Duncan Kiprono, were interdicted after a video emerged showing them manhandling the unarmed street vendor before one of them shot him at close range along Moi Avenue, leaving him critically injured.

On Wednesday, the DPP informed the court that Barasa will be arraigned on Friday before High Court Judge Justice Kimondo to face murder charges.

Kiprono, however, was released after the DPP stated that no murder charges would be brought against him.

The shooting triggered nationwide outrage and renewed protests against police brutality. Kariuki, a mask vendor, was rushed to hospital with four bullet fragments lodged in his brain. Doctors had earlier managed to remove two additional fragments while he was still alive.

Pathologists later noted that Kariuki’s brain activity may have ceased days before his death was officially confirmed, more than a week after the shooting.