A man posing as a hawker was Tuesday afternoon shot and wounded outside Parliament Building in Nairobi.
Police branded him a thief.
Police said the man had attacked a plain-clothed police officer who was trying to chase him from the area.
The police officer sustained a deep cut in his upper lip and was bleeding as he was being attended to.
The victim is said to have been targeting motor vehicles for spares when a police officer confronted him.
According to Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei, the plainclothes officer was hit and seriously wounded in the mouth prompting him to open fire.
He said hawking is prohibited along Parliament Road and that he did not know the shot victim was hawking CDs.
“He stabbed the officer with something in the scuffle seriously injuring him.
He is in hospital” he said.
Witnesses said the hawker was shot and wounded in the neck by a police officer who was in civilian clothes.
Police later stopped an ambulance that had responded to the scene to rescue the victim.
This attracted a mob who shouted from a distance as the victim lay on the ground holding a piece of clothing against his bleeding wound.
A police Landcruiser arrived and picked him up at the hospital.
Bungei said the victim sustained a serious wound in the neck.
“He sustained an injury in the neck and has been rushed to hospital.
He is stable and will be interviewed later,” he said.
Police have enhanced operations in the city to address rising cases of crimes at large.
