Lawyer Representing Cop Who Shot Nairobi Mask Vendor Withdraws After 1,000 Gen Zs 'Visit' Him
Keaton said he was stepping down from the high-profile case to safeguard himself and his family.
Marvin Chege 
Lawyer Felix Keaton has withdrawn from the case involving two police officers accused of assaulting and shooting a hawker during Tuesday, June 17's protests in Nairobi Central Business District (CBD).
Keaton had been representing officers Klinzy Barasa Masinde and Duncan Kiprono, who were filmed assaulting 22-year-old Boniface Kariuki, a face mask seller in Nairobi. The two officers are currently in police custody.
In a statement released on Thursday, June 19, Keaton said he was stepping down from the high-profile case to safeguard himself and his family.
Still image of Clinton Barasa Masinde captured firing his weapon at masks vendor, Boniface Kariuki. /EPA IMAGES
He added that Gen Z members have bombarded him with over a thousand messages, urging him not to defend the accused officers.
“I have received over 1,000 messages and calls from Gen Z because of representing a police suspect. As such, I hereby recuse myself from the conduct of the matter,” he stated. He, however, did not reveal the specifics of the calls and messages he received.
"In the interest of my personal safety and that of my family, I have taken the painful but necessary decision to cease all legal representation in this matter," he added.
Keaton also revealed that his family has been targeted with threats and unsettling messages from numerous Kenyans.
This comes hours after he told journalists outside Milimani Law Courts on Wednesday, June 18, that the officer, Barasa, did not shoot Kariuki using a rubber bullet emanating from an anti-riot shotgun.
According to Keaton, Barasa was roped into a case of mistaken identity, with the lawyer alleging that he and his legal team had no idea who fired the weapon that injured Kariuki during the protests in the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD).
"He is saying he is not the one who discharged that rubber bullet, so the person who has been arrested and remanded at Capitol Hill Police Station is a case of mistaken identity. He was not the one who fired that rubber bullet, and we don't know who," he said, adding, "We are calling upon IPOA to take over the matter."
Kiprono, however, recognised that no live bullet was discharged in the matter, even though he denied that the bullet came from his client's weapon, arguing that the gun in question did not belong to him.
"We all acknowledge that there was no live bullet which was discharged, it was a case of a rubber bullet, but the same did not emanate from our client, whereas our client was captured from the footage, that rubber bullet emanated from another gun which is not our client's," continued Kiprono.
Barasa and another officer, Police Constable Duncan Kiprono (No. 117193), were both interdicted and processed by the Homicide Team at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Headquarters, pending further action, according to NPS.
A wide-angled picture of the police officer running towards the protester from a convoy of police along Moi Avenue, June 17, 2025. /AFRICA UNCENSORED
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