On October 16, 2025, three men arrived at Nairobi's Kasarani Stadium to grieve a national figure and did not return home. A year later, a BBC Africa Eye investigation built from over 1,500 videos has quietly dismantled the official story: forensic analysis places each victim far from any confrontation, pointing toward an elite presidential protection unit as the likely source of the fatal shots. In the space between a government's account of restraint and the geometry of where bodies fell, three families have been left to mourn not only their dead but the absence of any reckoning.
BBC investigation: Kenya police killed mourners far from stadium violence
Three mourners—Evans Kiche (40), Vincent Ogutu (36), and Jidah Burka (42)—were killed by police gunfire; their families became widows and orphans with no accountability after one year.
The people who protect us are the ones causing this pain
Mark
So the police said they fired because the crowd was throwing stones at them. But the BBC found plastic chairs, not stones. How confident are they in that distinction?
Mimi
They went through 1,500 videos and images. They found plastic chairs in the footage. They have no evidence of stones. That's a pretty clear record.
Luke
But here's the thing—they can't see everything. There could have been stones thrown outside the frame. The BBC is saying they found no evidence of stones, which is different from proving stones weren't thrown.
Mark
Fair point. So what about the distance? That seems like the harder claim to defend—that the victims were 60 to 160 meters away.
Mimi
They mapped it out using the videos. They could see where the scuffles were happening, where the VIP pavilion was, and where each person was standing when they were shot. The distances are measurable from the footage.
Luke
And they're confident about which officers fired? Because they say it was likely an elite presidential protection unit, but they also say they can't establish which bullets killed which people.
Mimi
Right. They identified eight officers in tactical gear, faces covered, carrying assault rifles. At least three appeared to fire. But they can't trace individual bullets to individual victims. It's forensic analysis of movement and positioning, not ballistics.
Mark
So we know police fired into a crowd where the victims were far from any confrontation. We know an elite unit was likely responsible. But we don't know exactly who pulled the trigger.
Luke
And a year later, no one's been charged. The oversight authority is still investigating. That's the real story—not just what happened, but that nothing has happened since.
Mimi
Exactly. Three people are dead. Their families are still waiting. And the government's response is that it was a learning moment.
Mark
What does Ogutu's widow say about that?
Mimi
She says there's a hole inside her that won't close. She's asking why her husband died at a government event, shot by government security, and no one has been held responsible.
El Pulso
- Three mourners were shot dead at a state-organized memorial, yet official accounts insisted police acted with restraint under extreme pressure — a claim now directly contradicted by forensic evidence.
- BBC Africa Eye's analysis of 1,500+ videos reveals the victims were 60 to 160 meters from any scuffle, exposing a dangerous gap between what authorities said happened and what the footage shows.
- An elite, unmarked presidential protection unit — faces covered, carrying assault rifles — appears in the footage firing into a crowd that was largely peaceful, raising urgent questions about command, accountability, and the use of lethal force.
- Kenya's Interior Minister has offered no credible explanation for why live rounds were fired, while the Independent Policing Oversight Authority's investigation stretches into its second year with no charges filed.
- The widows and children of Evans Kiche, Vincent Ogutu, and Jidah Burka remain without answers, justice, or acknowledgment — a year after the state's own security forces killed their husbands and fathers at a government event.
On October 16, 2025, three men arrived at Nairobi's Kasarani Stadium to grieve a national figure and did not return home. A year later, a BBC Africa Eye investigation built from over 1,500 videos has quietly dismantled the official story: forensic analysis places each victim far from any confrontation, pointing toward an elite presidential protection unit as the likely source of the fatal shots. In the space between a government's account of restraint and the geometry of where bodies fell, three families have been left to mourn not only their dead but the absence of any reckoning.
On October 16, 2025, Evans Kiche, Vincent Ogutu, and Jidah Burka joined thousands of Kenyans streaming into Nairobi's Kasarani Stadium to pay their respects to Raila Odinga, the opposition leader and former prime minister who had died the day before in India at 80. By afternoon, all three were dead — shot by police officers deployed to manage the crowd.
The BBC's Africa Eye team spent months reviewing more than 1,500 videos and photographs from inside the stadium. Their findings directly contradict the official account. Kiche, a 40-year-old chef and father of seven, was roughly 60 meters from the confrontation when he was shot in the head. Ogutu and Burka were farther still — at least 160 meters away, standing in the opposite stands, nowhere near the VIP pavilion where a section of the crowd had begun throwing plastic chairs at police.
The chaos was partly born of poor planning. Odinga's body had originally been scheduled to lie in state at parliament, but the scale of public grief forced a last-minute move to the 48,000-capacity stadium. With little time to prepare, no public address system, and thousands of mourners packed onto the pitch in 30-degree heat, the situation deteriorated. When objects were thrown near the VIP area, police responded with live ammunition.
Forensic analysis identified at least eight officers in tactical gear and military camouflage — faces covered, carrying assault rifles, bearing no visible insignia — whose uniforms and movements were consistent with an elite unit assigned to protect President William Ruto. At least three appeared to fire. The BBC could not determine which specific rounds killed each man, but the evidence points toward this unit as the likely source.
Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen defended the response as 'restrained,' citing the pressure officers faced after being redeployed with no notice. He acknowledged objects were thrown but offered no evidence of stones — the BBC's footage showed only plastic chairs. When pressed, he framed the shooting as individual officer judgment rather than any deliberate order.
A year on, no one has been held accountable. The Independent Policing Oversight Authority is still investigating. The National Police Service described the day as a 'fundamental learning curve' — language that concedes failure while naming nothing.
Vincent Ogutu's widow, Yvonne Akinyi, had not planned to attend. Her husband had been in central Nairobi that morning when he and friends saw the crowds and decided to join. Hours later, their three children had lost their father. Speaking as the first anniversary approached, Akinyi told the BBC: 'The people who we look at to protect us, these are the people that cause us this pain.' At a government-organized event meant to honor a national figure, her husband was killed by the state's own forces. She is still waiting to understand why.
On October 16, 2025, three people went to Nairobi's Kasarani Stadium to mourn Raila Odinga, Kenya's longest-serving opposition leader and former prime minister, who had died the day before in India at age 80. By the end of that afternoon, all three were dead—shot by police officers who were supposed to be managing the crowd.
The BBC's Africa Eye team spent months analyzing more than 1,500 videos and photographs taken inside the stadium that day. What they found contradicts the official account of what happened. The three victims—Evans Kiche, 40, a chef and father of seven; Vincent Ogutu, 36, a father of three; and Jidah Burka, 42—were not caught in the scuffle that police cited as justification for opening fire. Kiche was roughly 200 feet from the confrontation when he was shot in the head. Ogutu and Burka were even farther away, at least 520 feet distant, standing in the opposite stands of the stadium, nowhere near the VIP pavilion where the pushing and shoving had begun.
The sequence of events that led to the shooting was rooted in poor planning and overwhelming crowds. Odinga's body was originally scheduled to lie in state at parliament, but the scale of the public grief—thousands gathered at the airport as his remains arrived—forced officials to move the event to Kasarani Stadium at the last minute. The 48,000-capacity venue had little time to be properly secured. Thousands of mourners spilled onto the pitch and into the stands with minimal crowd control. After several hours in 30-degree Celsius heat, with no public address system to provide updates or manage expectations, a section of the crowd near the VIP pavilion began throwing objects—plastic chairs, primarily—at police officers guarding the area. Police responded with live ammunition.
Kenya's Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen defended the police response as "restrained," claiming officers had been under "so much pressure" after working non-stop and being deployed to a new venue with no notice. He acknowledged that the crowd had thrown objects but offered no evidence that stones were among them. The BBC's analysis found plastic chairs in the footage but no stones. When pressed on why police fired live rounds into a largely peaceful crowd, Murkomen suggested it was a matter of individual officer judgment in the moment, not a deliberate order to shoot.
Forensic analysis of the videos and photographs identified at least eight police officers dressed in tactical gear and military camouflage, their faces covered, carrying assault rifles with no visible insignia. Their uniforms and movements were consistent with an elite unit assigned to protect President William Ruto. At least three of these officers appeared to fire their weapons. The BBC could not establish which specific bullets killed each victim, and cannot rule out that other officers inside the stadium also fired, but the evidence points toward this presidential protection unit as the likely source of the fatal shots.
A year after the shooting, no one has been held accountable. Kenya's Independent Policing Oversight Authority is still investigating. The National Police Service told the BBC that the day had provided "huge lessons" and formed a "fundamental learning curve for a better, more professional application in the future"—language that acknowledges failure without naming it.
Vincent Ogutu's widow, Yvonne Akinyi, had not planned to attend the memorial. Her husband was in central Nairobi that morning with friends when they saw crowds heading to the stadium and decided to join. Within hours, he was dead, and their three children had lost their father. Akinyi spoke to the BBC as the first anniversary of his death approached, still without answers. "The people who we look at to protect us, these are the people that cause us this pain," she said. "These are the people that make us to become young widows in this country, young orphans in this county." She described the weight of grief as a hole inside her, one that would not close. At a government-organized event meant to honor a national figure, her husband was killed by the state's own security forces. A year later, she was still waiting to understand why.
Citas Notables
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.— Yvonne Akinyi, widow of Vincent Ogutu
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.— Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen, defending police conduct
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Politics & Governance