Police identify man in church knife attack on senior cop, worshippers

Police in Kisii are holding a man believed to have stormed a church while wielding a knife and attacked worshippers injuring three amongst them a senior police officer.

The suspect has been identified as middle-aged Brian Magare.

He is reported to have entered Deliverance Church International on Sunday as Reverend Peter Rotich was delivering a sermon and rushed towards the pulpit before church orderlies and Kisii Central sub-County police boss Isaac Kimwele intercepted him.

“Police officers managed to arrest the suspect who tried to flee the scene. He is being held at the Kisii Central Police Station and we will present him to court immediately after we are done with our investigations," Kisii County Police Commander Charles Kases said.

The county police boss, who visited the trio at Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital (KTRH) to assess the extent of their injuries, also said that they were yet to establish the motive behind the attack.

The sub-County police commander Isaac Kimwele was attending the church service as a worshiper when the incident occurred.

One of the church officials, Mr Simon Onditi said the suspicious-looking man was wearing a mask and sunglasses.

“He was acting weird. But when he started moving towards the pulpit I became weary and moved forward to intercept him and get him out. However, he got violent and pulled out a knife he had concealed in a handkerchief and stabbed me on my left arm before he sprinted towards the front,” Mr Onditi said.

Kisii County Police Commander Charles Kases said the officers who were deployed in the church swiftly managed to arrest the man as he tried to escape.

“We usually deploy some officers at the church to enhance security after we were requested by the church's management,” he said after visiting those injured at the Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital.

The suspect was handed over to sleuths attached to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) who are trying to establish what motivated the crime.

The classy Deliverance Church in Kisii is located between the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) - Kisii Campus and the Oasis Specialist Hospital. 

In October 2021, President William Ruto worshipped in the church. The head of state, then deputy president, expressed openly his fascination with the church's design and applauded the worshippers for "building a wonderful house of prayer".

The Nation has reliably learnt that there is a protracted leadership dispute at the church which has split the house of God into two camps.

More church fights

The incident at Deliverance Church comes barely days after ten people were injured during a physical fight that broke out at Nyabigena Seventh Day Adventist Church in South Mugirango, Kisii County.

In an amateur video doing rounds on social media for two days now, members of the church are seen exchanging blows.

According to sources, the two factions are members of the Adventist Church and the Nairobi Cosmopolitan Conference (NCC).

The two groups have for two years now been working separately and managed to split the Adventist Ministry.

At the Nyabigena Church, the two have been using the same place to hold services each and every Saturday.

Leaders of both groups have already been summoned by the police.

Ms Hyline Bitutu, a trader in Kisii town wondered what had become of people to the extent that they can attack others in houses of prayer.

“I am wondering what is ailing our country. Maybe these are the end times. Just the other week, we had an incident of people who got injured after a fight broke out in a Church in South Mugirango Constituency. A week later, we heard of a man storming the church and stabbing the faithful,” Ms Bitutu wondered.

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