New details surrounding the death of a police officer who died on Wednesday by suicide after shooting himself in the head at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters have emerged.
Corporal Linus Mutunga, who was set to retire at the end of the year, is said to have reported to work as usual without showing any signs of distress.
A few hours after checking in, he was seen walking to the parking lot, where he locked himself inside his car before shooting himself in the head with his pistol.
His colleagues were alerted by the gunshot sound from the parking lot at the operations section, and on checking, they found the lifeless body of the 59-year-old inside his car.
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The motive behind the shooting was not established. DCI detectives are now investigating whether Mutunga’s duties at the Operations Section were linked to his death. His body was moved to the mortuary pending an autopsy.
Cases of suicides among police officers have recently been on the rise in a worrying trend that has pushed authorities to step in with measures to address mental health problems.
Data from the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) shows that one out of every ten police officers experiences mental health problems, and at least three suicide cases involving police officers are recorded every month.
This is primarily attributed to work stress and other work-related issues. In a bid to address the trend, police authorities have launched counseling services that will, among other things, evaluate, design, and lead an outreach program that helps prevent mental health and substance abuse.
