Boniface Kariuki, the hawker shot by police during protests in Nairobi on 25 June, was eulogised as a hardworking person even as calls to end extra-judicial killings dominated his requiem mass yesterday.

At the unusual memorial service — without his body and with only a handful of people present — a sombre mood and tension engulfed All Saints Cathedral as friends and family paid tribute to the deceased.

Kariuki succumbed to brain damage after being on a life-support machine for nearly two weeks.

He was shot in the head at point-blank range by police officers while selling face masks in Nairobi’s Central Business District during the first anniversary of youth-led anti-Finance Bill protests.

According to his family, Kariuki was their only hope and one who had a bright future, even as his mother, Susan Njeri, recounted his last moments before the tragic news of his death struck them.

She said she had communicated with him a day before he was shot and warned him against joining the protests, and that he had assured them he would not go to the streets.

“We never knew that would be our last word with you, and that was your goodbye to us,” she recounted in a speech shared by a relative. “I loved you so much as my first son and my heir. Rest in peace, my son,” said Njeri.

His siblings expressed their pain, saying they were unable to come to terms with the loss.

“You were the only hope for us and our parents. You had a bright future and you wished well for all of us. We have nothing else to add but to say that we will miss you so much. We loved you so much, Bonnie,” they said.

“We have not even been able to express the pain that we feel inside us because our young cousin, brother and son was robbed of his life unexpectedly,” shared family spokesperson Emily Wanjira.

Equally, Kariuki’s friends remembered him as an individual who toiled and moiled to earn a living from his sweat. “He was visionary. He told me that one of his dreams was to build his parents a good house. But his dreams have been shattered,” said one of his friends.

They called on the State to act and bring to an end the police brutality against protesters witnessed in the recent past, claiming the lives of many young Kenyans, including that of Kariuki.

“It is painful as a country knowing that many people have died because of police brutality in the country. The country is in pain,” he said.

He added: “It is high time you (the government) made sure that there are no extra-judicial killings, because today it is Bonnie, and tomorrow it might be another person.”

And amid the pain inside the church, it emerged that beneath the sorrow lay fear and tension that chaos could erupt at the church compound.

“There were heavy security checks because there was fear and anticipation that rogue people would invade the church,” one of the security guards confided in The Standard.

His sentiments pointed to worries that some members of the public could grab his casket, run with it to the City Centre and disrupt operations.

Law enforcement agencies have, in the recent past, come under sharp scrutiny for using excessive force in curtailing protests.

Kariuki will be laid to rest on Friday in Kangema, Murang’a County.

On Tuesday, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights reported 31 fatalities from the Saba Saba commemoration protests, which rocked at least 16 counties across the country, with several left nursing gunshot wounds.

Starehe lawmaker Amos Mwago, who attended the service, accused pro-government leaders of orchestrating the violence and chaos witnessed in the recent demonstrations that have left a trail of death, injuries and destruction in their wake.

“They cannot run away from the responsibility of radicalising the protest and bringing on board goons to come and harass Gen-Zs and tarnish the name of the big protests. The end product: it has turned out to be bloody as they respond with violence,” he said.

“The buck stops with President William Ruto,” he added, saying the president must take full responsibility for the deaths.

Activist Eric Omondi took issue with the directive by President Ruto to police officers to shoot, at the leg, goons invading and torching police stations.

Eric said “stray bullets might hit sensitive body parts resulting in more deaths,” calling for restraint from the police and urging them to stop using live bullets to control protests.

“Demonstrations have been there, they’ll be there, but they don’t have to end in deaths,” he said.

The family warned against unnamed characters trying to interfere with the murder case ahead of a court appearance on Thursday, even as they asked “Kenyans for support in the quest for justice.”

“Those who are trying to intervene in this case, please don’t. It is already owned by Kenyans. Don’t dare intervene… and let it follow the right channel as per the Constitution,” said Wanjira.

Kariuki will be laid to rest on Friday at their village home in Kangema, Murang’a County.