Police shoot man dead outside US embassy in Kenya

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - Police shot dead a man outside the U.S. embassy in the Kenyan capital Nairobi Thursday when the suspect allegedly attacked one of the officers, according to local media reports quoting the police chief.

The U.S. embassy in a statement "confirmed: shooting incident near the embassy."

Police chief Vitalis Otieno told local media the unidentified suspect had allegedly grabbed one of the officers manning the embassy's entrance and stabbed him on the hand.

"The man was shot after stabbing a GSU [General Service Unit] officer on the hand and left him with injuries; the officer sustained injuries in the head and hand after the confrontation in which the attacker had tried to grab a gun from him," Kenyan capital fm website quoted him as saying.

Pictures circulated on social media by eyewitnesses showed the suspect lying on the road after having been shot in the head close to the embassy's visa section.