It has now come to light that the police officer who killed the woman he was living with and the wife of a neighbor before turning the gun on himself had earlier threatened to go to his wife’s rural home and kill everyone there.
Ms. Viola Jepkoech Tirop, 37, and his mistress, Ms. Rhoda Machuma Chepchumba, 28, were killed by Corporal Mark Mulanda on Sunday night inside Mugumoini Chief’s Camp, which is situated 750 meters from Lang’ata Police Station in Nairobi County.
In interviews with The Nation yesterday, Mr. Mulanda’s coworkers described an officer who had recently displayed symptoms of depression and whose plight had been discussed by neighbors and coworkers at the chief’s camp.
“He always appeared disturbed, in the past few months he preferred staying alone and did not talk as much,” said an officer who spoke in confidence as they are not authorised to address the media, adding that his drinking habits had also changed.
14 houses are concealed behind a wooden two-room building that serves as the chief’s office inside the chief’s camp.
The chief runs his operations out of a permanent house that is located the farthest end from the gate.
A neighbor who heard the disturbance but refrained from leaving the house until there was complete quiet reported hearing Mulanda shout before he shot Jepkoech. Then he returned to his home and killed Chepchumba, his mistress.
According to a detective with knowledge of the ongoing inquiries, they believe that things could have gotten worse if the officer had encountered more people outside because he sprayed bullets indiscriminately.
“Things could have even been worse because he was shooting anyhow and when he saw Ms Jepkoech, who was busy with her house chores, he only shouted before shooting at her,” the detective said.
Yesterday, when reporters arrived at the chief’s camp, non-uniformed police officers attached to the camp were consoling family members of the three.
