A Kenyan lawmaker was shot dead early Saturday in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, along with his two bodyguards and driver.
George Muchai, a trade unionist and member of Kenya’s ruling coalition, was returning from a family gathering and had stopped to buy a newspaper along a main street in the central business district when gunmen attacked, The Associated Press reported a senior police official as saying.
The official said the killing looked like an execution-style hit.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said he was "deeply shocked and saddened" by the killings. He said he expects the police to "mobilize all resources" to ensure the gunmen are "speedily apprehended."
The majority leader in Kenya's parliament, Adel Duale, has called for an investigation, describing the shooting as "heinous" and "barbaric."
"This is a sad day for the Jubilee Coalition," Duale said. "The coalition has lost one of its best members of parliament; the country has lost a leader."
He said the government "is under obligation to protect the lives and property" of all Kenyans "and also to provide more security for the top leadership of our country."
Opposition leader Raila Odinga also denounced Muchai’s killing, saying it was part of a wider pattern of political violence and insecurity in Kenya.
The East African country has suffered a wave of violence linked to Islamist militants angry over Kenya’s military involvement in neighboring Somalia.
VOA's Peter Clottey contributed to this story.
