Catherine Wanjeri Kariuki of Mediamax Networks is yet to come to terms with a terrible incident when she was shot four times at close range while covering protests in Nakuru.
The attack saw three bullets getting lodged in her thigh.
The Kameme TV and Radio reporter, who is currently recuperating at a hospital in Nakuru County, speaking to a local TV, said that the horrible scene was not the first incident police officers were targeting her.
“This is not the first time I have been targeted. I had been hit by a teargas canister but I did not report nor escalate the matter,” Wanjeri recalled.
She revealed that barely seven minutes before the very incident, her mother had called and told her to take care.
She said she was at some moments back, seen offering a female police officer some toothpaste to dampen the effects of teargas during the anti-government demos in Nakuru.
A police vehicle attached to Salgaa police station would however pull up with three to four occupants who are suspected to have shot at the journalist four times at close range.
“I left home at 1: 30 pm thinking that I was going to cover protests and go back home. Little did I know that I’d end up at a hospital with stitches on my thigh,” said the journalist.
Catherine believes that she was absolutely the target by police officers.
“Nobody would convince me that I was not a target because it is not the first time I had been targeted. A teargas canister had hit me, but I did not report the matter, I did not escalate the matter,” she said.
“I don’t know what kind of damage those scars are going to do to me.” she added.
The outspoken journalist was hit by bullets despite wearing a press gear which clearly identified her from regular protesters.
Scribes who were present at the time of the incident rushed her to a nearby hospital on board a motorbike.
Wanjeri was rushed to Valley Hospital in Nakuru where she was attended to.
She was among a host of other reporters who had been deployed to cover events as they unfolded in Nakuru where police lobbed teargas to disperse a group of demonstrators who had converged in the city.
Nakuru was among the areas that witnessed protests on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. Other areas included Nairobi, Kajiado, Machakos, Kakamega, Eldoret, Karatina, Homa Bay and Kisumu.
She disclosed that the three bullets had been successfully extracted from her thigh but she was unable to determine how long it would take to fully recover.She appealed to the police to identify the officer who shot at her so that justice could be done.
“I know justice will be served; why you shot me, I don’t know,” she said.
