Man shot dead after stabbing officer outside US embassy in Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | 

A man was shot and killed by Kenyan police outside the US embassy in the capital Nairobi on Thursday after stabbing an officer with a knife, police said.

“The man was shot after stabbing a GSU officer in the hand and left him with injuries,” said local police chief Vitalis Otieno.

The police officer involved in the shooting was a member of the paramilitary General Services Unit (GSU) deployed to guard the embassy.

Otieno said the dead man had been walking towards the US embassy and was close to the public entrance to the visa section when he attempted to grab a gun from one of the officers.

A photograph shared on social media showed the body of a man of apparently Somali origin lying on the pavement, a pool of blood staining the tarmac by his head, and surrounded by police officers. US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officers were also present at the scene.

A statement from the US embassy confirmed the “shooting incident”, adding that “no embassy personnel were involved.”

The well-guarded US embassy in Nairobi is located opposite the main UN complex in Gigiri, an upmarket suburb in the city’s north popular with expatriates.