Police retreat in Iten hospital raid averted bloodbath

The daring raid at the Iten County Referral Hospital in Elgeyo-Marakwet County last week by a group of 10 gunmen would have seen many people shot dead had the police engaged the criminals in a shootout, People Daily has established.

It emerged yesterday that the raid seems to have been well planned and executed with police officers caught off-guard during the chilling incident at dawn on Monday last week.

But a detective privy to the ongoing investigations into the incident said police officers deployed to the facility after a tip-off on the impending raid forestalled a disaster which would have seen many casualties among them patients caugt in the crossfire.

The sleuth dismissed claims of police being overpowered by the gunmen who went away with a patient (a murder suspect) being treated for gunshot wounds to the chest.

“Police chose not to put any resistance to avert casualties. The set up of the hospital with patients prompted the officers not to use firearms which would have scared patients and resulted in deaths,” said the detective who preferred anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Gained access

The armed men are said to have gained access to the hospital after cutting through the wire mesh fence near the staff quarters and entered the ward where the patient who had been shot in the chest was undergoing treatment. The men who were armed with AK-47 rifles then escaped with the patient who had been shot at an unknown destination during the 2am incident on Monday last week.

A spot-check by People Daily revealed that though normal operations have resumed at the facility situated some metres away from  the county headquarters, residents still live in fear.

Elgeyo-Marakwet Governor Wisley Rotich yesterday acknowledged that the incident caught many unawares even as he assured residents that security had been beefed up at the facility.

“None us in our wildest dreams could ever imagine that gun-wielding thugs can come to our hospital. The incident scared our patients,” said Governor Rotich.

Security has since been enhanced in the hospital with all visitors visiting the facility being required to deposit their identification documents at the gate. The devolved unit is also in the process of installing CCTV cameras, according to Governor Rotich.

People Daily established that the patient was to be handed over by police  in Elgeyo-Marakwet County to their counterparts in the neighbouring Baringo County.

“The patient had one gunshot wound to the chest but he had been managed. He was due for discharge on the material day,” said a medic at the facility.

Gunshot wounds

According to Elgeyo-Marakwet County Commissioner John Korir, the patient who was hospitalized at the hospital had sustained a gunshot wound on Wednesday last week at Kapchemutta in Marakwet West when bandits raided the area, injuring three people.

“We have launched investigations into the scary incident. We are yet to establish why the victim escaped from the hospital in such a bizarre manner,” said the administrator.

Korir said that during the incident, at around midnight, police officers, acting on a tip-off, were alerted over the matter and security officers were promptly deployed to the hospital.

“Police were deployed and as they were still processing to secure the patient, the armed men stormed the ward and escaped with him,” said the administrator.

He said that the officers launched a manhunt for the men at the hospital vicinity in vain adding that the motive of the escape and those who carried it out is under probe by detectives.

This comes despite the ongoing security operation to flush out bandits wreaking havoc in six banditry prone counties in the North Rift which have been described as dangerous and disturbed by the state. But many questions are emerging on how the gunmen gained entry into the hospital yet police were well aware that a murder suspect was due for discharge. A section of leaders from the region yesterday expressed fears that some security personnel in the North Rift were colluding with bandits wreaking havoc in the area.