A bodyguard assigned to Laikipia Governor Joshua Irungu was found dead in a suspected suicide at his rental home in Nanyuki town on Wednesday afternoon.
The officer, who had served the governor since 2022, reportedly shot himself with a firearm, according to Laikipia East police boss John Tarus.
At around 3 PM on the tragic day, the bodyguard is said to have hopped onto a boda boda in Nanyuki Town, asking the rider to take him home—just three kilometres away in Blue Gum Estate. Before disembarking, he requested the rider to wait so they could return to town together. But in the quiet of the afternoon, the waiting rider heard a loud gunshot from the house. Alarmed, he rushed to the nearest police station to report what had just happened.
The police hurried to the estate to investigate, only to find that the bodyguard had taken his own life. The bullet entered through his mouth and exited through the back of his head.
“It is true the governor’s bodyguard has died after shooting himself through the mouth. He did not leave a suicide note, and the body has been taken to the Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary,” Laikipia East police boss John Tarus said.
The officer’s final duty post had been just a few days earlier, last Monday, when he was part of the security detail as President William Ruto’s advisor on women’s rights and gender, Harriet Chigai, and officials from Habitat for Humanity Kenya visited the governor.
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