A 14-year-old girl who sustained gunshot wounds during the nationwide protests on June 25 has died while undergoing treatment in the Intensive Care Unit at Our Lady of Mercy Hospital. Her passing has cast a fresh shadow over the already tense national mood, as the country continues to grapple with the aftermath of the demonstrations that erupted over police brutality and governance issues.
The protests, which spread across Nairobi, Mombasa, and other major towns, were sparked by the controversial death of blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang’ in police custody. The young girl’s shooting became one of the many tragic incidents linked to the demonstrations. She had been admitted in critical condition, but despite efforts by medical personnel, she succumbed to her injuries.
Her death has triggered fresh outrage among rights activists and citizens. Reports indicate she was among many protestors, most of them unarmed civilians, who were injured when police opened fire. Her passing underscores the human cost of the state’s heavy-handed response to public dissent.
Updates from hospitals attending to the injured continue to highlight the scale of the violence. Most of those admitted with gunshot injuries have since been discharged, but several remain hospitalized. One case involved a protestor who had sustained six bullet wounds but was said to be in stable condition and expected to be discharged soon.
The protests led to numerous injuries, many of them severe. According to those who visited hospitals treating the victims, the gunshot wounds appeared to be deliberate rather than incidental. Victims include individuals shot in the eye, neck, back, and limbs suggesting a pattern of targeted shooting rather than random crowd control.
Among the visitors to the injured was Embakasi East Member of Parliament Babu Owino, who toured Kenyatta National Hospital following the demonstrations. He shared harrowing accounts of what he described as a “massacre,” emphasizing that many of the injuries were not just excessive but intentionally inflicted on defenseless citizens.
As the public comes to terms with the girl’s death, questions continue to mount over the conduct of the police and the government’s handling of the demonstrations. The incident has amplified calls for accountability, justice for victims, and the urgent need for police reform. Civil society groups are demanding independent investigations into the shootings and better protections for the right to protest.
The tragedy of a 14-year-old girl losing her life simply for being caught in a protest is a stark reminder of the fragility of civil liberties in moments of national crisis. As the country mourns her loss, many are left asking how many more must suffer before meaningful change is enacted?
