The BBC Africa Eye investigation examined the deaths at Nairobi's Kasarani Stadium on 16 October 2025, when three people were shot after mourners attempted to force their way into the VIP section during the national farewell for Odinga. The former prime minister, one of Kenya's most influential political figures and its longest serving opposition leader, died the previous day while receiving medical treatment in India.
Analysis from inside the stadium shows the victims, Evans Kiche, Vincent Ogutu and Jidah Burka, were each between at least 60m and 160m from the scuffles. The BBC reviewed more than 1,500 images and videos to establish where those killed were standing and spoke to some of their relatives. Its forensic analysis suggests an elite police unit responsible for protecting the president may have fired the fatal shots.
Kenya's Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen defended the police response, telling the BBC it had been "restrained" after the crowd began throwing objects. Footage analysed by the BBC shows plastic chairs being thrown, though the BBC said it found no evidence that stones were among the objects.
Murkomen said officers had been under "so much pressure" after working many hours non-stop and being deployed to a new venue at the last minute. "I don't think… somebody [was] sitting there and saying: 'Shoot now'. It is the judgment of the police officer at the spur of the moment," he said.
He said the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), Kenya's police watchdog, was investigating and "we believe that their findings will help us take appropriate legal action".
A year on, the IPOA is still investigating the deaths and police response, and no one has been held to account. Yvonne Akinyi, whose husband was among those killed, told the BBC: "There were so many people, why him?"