13-year-old shot dead; Kenyan police enforcing curfew blamed

The bullet struck the 13-year-old as he stood on the balcony of his family's home with other children.

Below, police officers moved through the crowded neighbourhood, enforcing Kenya's new coronavirus curfew.

The boy's family mourned him Tuesday on the outskirts of Nairobi, washing his small body according to Muslim rite, carrying him in a crowd through the street to the cemetery and burying him in the dirt with their bare hands.

The killing of Yasin Hussein Moyo might be the latest example of police abuse of coronavirus restrictions seen in several African nations in the past week.

Kenya's police inspector general has ordered an investigation into the boy's death by "stray bullet," including a forensic analysis of all firearms held by officers at the scene.

"Our sincere condolences to the family," the police tweet said.

The family was stunned. Women wept in a courtyard at the cemetery, and leaned in for a final goodbye before the boy's body was wrapped completely in white cloth.

The father, Hussein Moyo, was furious.

"They come in screaming and beating us like cows, and we are law-abiding citizens," he said.

His son died a few hours after midnight from the gunshot to the stomach.

Police shot him, a neighbour in the adjacent apartment block said. "I could see police aiming at the building," Hadijah Mamo said.

She heard gunfire and saw tear gas, and minutes later "I heard people screaming that the boy had been shot."