Mourners killed by Kenya police at ex-PM's national farewell not part of violence, BBC finds

Mourners killed by Kenya police at ex-PM's national farewell not part of violence, BBC finds

'There were so many people, why him?' Yvonne Akinyi remembers the day her husband was shot dead

Three mourners killed when Kenyan police opened fire at a national farewell for former Prime Minister Raila Odinga were not involved in the clash that triggered the gunfire, a BBC Africa Eye investigation has found.

At the event last October, held for people to pay tribute to Odinga, three people were shot dead after mourners tried to force their way into the VIP section of Nairobi's Kasarani Stadium.

BBC analysis from inside the stadium shows the victims were each at least 60m (197 ft) and as far as 160m from the scuffles.

Kenya's Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen told the BBC that police action had been "restrained" after the crowd began throwing stones.

In footage examined by the BBC, objects including plastic chairs can clearly be seen being thrown, but there is no evidence that stones were among them.

The BBC reviewed more than 1,500 images and videos to determine where those killed were located inside the stadium on 16 October 2025, and also spoke with some of their relatives.

Forensic analysis by the BBC indicates that an elite police unit tasked with protecting the president may have fired the fatal shots.

Kenya's longest-serving opposition leader and former prime minister died the previous day while receiving medical treatment in India. He was one of the country's most influential political figures.

A year later, Kenya's police watchdog, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), is still investigating the deaths and the police response, and no one has been held accountable.

The interior minister defended the police, saying they had been under "so much pressure" after working for many hours without a break and had been moved to a new venue at the last minute.

"The investigations are being done by an independent police oversight authority, we believe that their findings will help us take appropriate legal action," Murkomen said.

Asked about police conduct, he said: "I don't think… somebody [was] sitting there and saying: 'Shoot now'. It is the judgment of the police officer at the spur of the moment."

Evans Kiche (l) and Jidah Burka (r) were shot in the head, while Vincent Ogutu (c) was shot in the chest

Yvonne Akinyi, whose husband was among those killed, told the BBC: "The people who we look at to protect us, these are the people that cause us this pain. These are the people that make us to become young widows in this country, young orphans in this county," she said.

Odinga's death at 80 led to an outpouring of grief across Kenya. Thousands gathered at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as his body was flown home.

The body had initially been due to lie in state at parliament, but the size of the crowds and fears of a security breach led to a last-minute move to Kasarani Stadium. Officials say they had little time to secure the 48,000-capacity venue, and thousands spilled onto the pitch and into the stands unchecked.

After several hours of waiting to view the coffin in 30C heat, with no public address system for official updates, a small section of the crowd began throwing objects, including plastic chairs, at officers guarding the VIP pavilion. Police fired live rounds as mourners pushed toward the pavilion. Footage from elsewhere in the stadium shows the crowd remained largely peaceful.

In total, three people were killed.

One was Evans Kiche, a 40-year-old chef and father of seven. BBC analysis shows he was about 60m from the confrontation when he was killed by a gunshot wound to the head.

The other two mourners killed, Vincent Ogutu and Jidah Burka, were at least 160m away, in the opposite stands, far from the pavilion.

Autopsy reports confirm that Ogutu died from a gunshot wound to the chest and 42-year-old Burka was fatally shot in the head.

By reconstructing a timeline of events, BBC Africa Eye identified at least eight police officers operating together, wearing tactical clothing and military camouflage. They carried assault rifles, had no visible insignia and their faces were covered.

Their uniforms and movements match a security layer assigned to President William Ruto and other VIPs before and after the shooting. At least three officers from this unit appear to have fired their weapons.

The BBC identified three of them as members of an elite police unit responsible for presidential protection.

The BBC cannot determine which bullets killed each victim, and cannot rule out other officers firing inside the stadium.

Kenya's National Police Service told the BBC: "There are huge lessons picked from the day's events," which had "formed a fundamental learning curve for a better, more professional application in the future." The IPOA did not respond to a request for comment.

The shooting caused panic among the thousands of people inside the stadium

Ogutu, a 36-year-old father of three, had not planned to go to Kasarani, his wife told the BBC. He was in central Nairobi on the morning of 16 October with friends when they saw crowds heading to the stadium and decided to join them.

Within hours, he was dead.

His widow Yvonne Akinyi described how the killing shattered their family, saying their children were now orphans.

As she prepares to mark a year since her husband's death, Akinyi is no closer to understanding why he died while paying his respects at a government-organised event.

"I will just try to be that strong woman. Very strong. But deep inside there is a hole," she said.

"It is very painful because sometimes you just sit down and ask yourself. At Kasarani there were so many people, so many of them. Why him."