Police investigating the fatal shooting of Karatina businessman George Gathu are exploring the theory that he and the police officer who shot him may have known each other and fallen out over a conversation or deal gone sour last Sunday.
This emerged even after footage of that night emerged showing the shooting of the 40-year-old man at Rubis petrol station in Karatina town, Nyeri County, on January 18, 2026, at about 11.10pm.
George Gathu Matheri, a 40-year-old businessman, who was shot dead by a police officer during a confrontation in Karatina town on the night of January 18, 2026.
Photo credit: Pool
Police investigating the fatal shooting of Karatina businessman George Gathu are exploring a possible theory that the two, the victim and the suspect who shot him – a police officer, may have been acquainted to each other and either fell out on account of a conversation or a deal gone sour last Sunday.
This emerged even after footage of that night emerged showing the shooting of the 40-year-old man at Rubis petrol station in Karatina town, Nyeri County, on January 18, 2026, at about 11.10pm.
A postmortem conducted on Tuesday at Karatina Sub-County Hospital mortuary, indicates Gathu was shot four times after two bullets pierced his chest, another entered one ear and exited through the other blowing off his brain while the fourth bullet entered through the right shoulder and lodged in his body
The findings were read to journalists by the family lawyer Lilian Nyawira who said the shots were fired at close range, leaving the deceased with no chance of survival due to massive bleeding. He died on the spot.
Police officer in Nyeri arrested after he allegedly shot dead a businessman in Karatina
“What has come out clearly from the report is that the deceased died from gunshot wounds. There were four bullet entry points, which contradicts the initial police report. The family will reject any attempt to sanitise the circumstances under which the deceased died. What the family demands is an independent and transparent investigation by IPOA,” Ms Nyawira said.
According to Gathu’s father John Matheri, his son was friendly with several officers at Karatina Police Station and had even been contracted a few months earlier to fumigate the station.
“It feels like there may have been a personal grudge between George and the officer, one we may never fully understand,” he said.
He says he last spoke to his son was at around 6pm, when they discussed tree seedlings. They had agreed that Mr Matheri would hire labourers to plant them and send money later.
John Matheri, father of 40-year-old George Gathu, who was shot dead by a police officer during a confrontation in Karatina town on the night of January 18, 2026, speaks to the media in an interview on January 20, 2026.
Photo credit: Pool
Hours later, Mr Matheri received a call from his other son Peter Wang’odu informing him that Gathu had been killed.
He also disputed the police account is false saying the hours following his son’s death were marked by a struggle to protect his body, secure eyewitness testimony and ensure the truth was not buried with him.
According to the family, Gathu had spent the day delivering cereals to a high school in Kieni Constituency with a friend. They returned to Karatina at around 10pm and stopped at a hotel near the petrol station for tea, parking his car inside the station compound for safety.
As they were leaving, Gathu encountered a mechanic whom he had previously hired to repair his car, which was still experiencing ignition problems. He confronted the mechanic over what he considered shoddy work and an argument ensued.
CCTV footage from the petrol station which was reviewed by the family, shows AP officer Peter Mwangi physically assaulting Gathu, threatening him with an AK-47 rifle and striking him.
The officer reportedly remained at the scene for about a minute before leaving. Locals then gathered around the body, with witnesses saying the officers fled on a motorcycle.
Nyeri: CCTV Shows police officer shooting businessman from behind at close range
The family says the CCTV footage contradicts the officer’s account recorded in the Occurrence Book (OB) at Karatina Police Station, which claims Gathu attempted to grab the officer’s firearm, prompting the shooting.
Mr Matheri says he went to Karatina Police Station seeking assistance and was assigned two plain-clothes officers. Even they struggled to control the crowd and eventually called for backup, which fired teargas to disperse people and remove the body.
“None of the officers informed me that the body had been taken away. I only learned from a witness who saw them rushing it to Karatina Hospital mortuary,” he said.
At the mortuary, attendants initially refused to receive the body because the police had left the “cause of death” section blank.
“The officers were very rude and refused to record the cause of death. I had to threaten to call their seniors. Only then did they agree to indicate that he had been shot,” said Mr Matheri, a retired high school principal.
The following morning, residents protested, threatening to burn down the police station if the officer responsible was not released to them. By then, the accused officer had already been transferred to Nyeri Police Station for safety.
Mr Matheri said that when he later reviewed the OB entry, he found it falsely stated that his son had attempted to grab an officer’s AK-47 rifle.
“I requested that another OB entry be recorded because what was written was not true,” he said.
The family also lodged a formal complaint with the Central Regional Police Commander demanding that the initial OB entry be preserved as evidence of what they describe as a fabricated narrative.
On the same day, Mr Matheri received reports that some officers had attempted to access his son’s body at the mortuary.
“I rushed there to secure the body. As a family, we instructed that only the family lawyer and I should access it,” he said.
The motive for the killing remains unclear, particularly because the family says the officer and the deceased may have been well known to each other.
Addressing journalists on Monday outside Karatina Police Station, Central Region Police Commander Jasper Ombati said IPOA had taken over the investigations.
“We shall offer IPOA any assistance it needs. I urge everyone to give the authority time to process the case,” he said, adding that the allegations raised by the family could only be confirmed through investigations.
“The incident occurred under unclear circumstances. We are awaiting IPOA’s report to establish exactly what happened,” Mr Ombati said.
On Tuesday, the Nyeri Magistrate’s Court allowed police to detain AP officer Peter Mwangi for 14 days to allow IPOA investigations.
Senior Resident Magistrate Mary Gituma said the detention was necessary to prevent interference with witnesses and to ensure the suspect’s safety.
Human rights group Vocal Africa, which is involved in the case, called for transparency and a speedy investigation.
