Father's agony as 14-year-old son shot on Saba Saba remains hospitalised

Solomon Njoroge, 14, is supposed to be in school like other pupils who are in the final days of the second term.

But today, Njoroge, who has grown up without a mother, is now confined to a bed at the Kenyatta National Hospital after being shot on Saba Saba Day while playing football in Tigoni, Kiambu County.

He has been in the hospital since July 10.

His father, John Mungai, is a hawker in Limuru and has not visited him for three days since he must go out to sell some wares so as to put food on the table.

“The last time I saw him was last week, but some relatives have been going to see him,” Mungai, who lost his wife to an electricity accident, told The Standard.

“I was told he was taken for surgery, but the details are not clear. I don’t even know the bill and how I will pay because I am unable to do that.” 

Njoroge's elder brother, Kibe, who survives on manual jobs in Limuru town, is still shaken following the shooting of his brother. He has been visiting him in the hospital, but he can no longer afford to commute from Tigoni to Nairobi.

“The last time I saw him was on Tuesday because I can no longer afford to travel to Nairobi. We are unable to raise the fare," he said 

The young Njoroge, who is a grade 9 pupil at Bibirioni Primary School, was shot during Saba-saba and taken to Tigoni Hospital by police officers before being placed in cells for two days.

Njoroge says he was playing football with friends when strangers in a white car drove up and began shooting in the air.

 Njoroge said, “One boy fell, and I was shot three times in my right leg. Another bullet hit the heel of my left leg after I fell. The people who shot us frisked our pockets and took my phone. Then they called their colleagues, who arrived in a police lorry that we were bundled into.”

Adding to his account, Njoroge says, “I was taken to Tigoni Hospital where they first put me on a drip and gave me a tetanus jab. Later, I was loaded onto a lorry and taken to the police cells.”

His father said on the material day, around 6 pm, while preparing the evening meal, he says he received a call from his eldest son, who informed him that Njoroge had been shot and thrown into a police vehicle.

He said that after seeing his son, who was still under the watch of two police officers, he went home only to return the following day, only to learn that his son had been moved to Tigoni police station cells.

His efforts to take the boy for treatment at Kiambu Level 5 were futile until an LSK lawyer called the station.

It was then that he was arraigned at Limuru law courts, released on a free bond and told to present himself at Tigoni Police Station on July 17, 2025.