Garissa University Shooting: Eyewitnesses Describe Escape, the Terrorists' Behavior During the Seige
ByThe day after a bloody shooting at Kenya's Garissa University College, authorities are still probing the site and asking for assistance in stopping the terrorist group responsible.
According to CNN, some of the bodies from the 147 confirmed deaths in the shooting are still at the scene. The bodies also confirm what was already known of the Al-Shabaab gunmen who held the students hostage, that they released Muslims and executed Christians.
"They're facing down, always," a St. John's ambulance worker told CNN. "They're always facing down, and they're shot in the heads, around the back."
Several students escaped as the shooting broke out and hundreds more were evacuated when police arrived on the scene. With the attack coming early Thursday morning, several students were awoken by an explosion and escaped through a fence behind the dormitory building.
One student named Hellen Titus could not escape before the gunmen entered the campus. Surrounded by dead bodies, she covered herself in the blood of others to make it appear as if she too had been shot, she told CNN.
Reuben Mwavita, a 21-year-old student and an eyewitness, told Reuters it was apparent from the beginner the assault on the school was religiously charged. He said some students prayed for their lives at the feet of the shooters, but who they prayed to determined their fate.
Security guards were able to shoot and kill four of the Al-Shabaab terrorists, though some eyewitnesses indicated the shooters were willing to die in the raid.
"What I managed to hear from them is 'We came to kill or finally be killed.' That's what they said," Eric Wekesa, a student at Garissa, told Reuters.
Based in Somalia, Al-Shabaab is the militant Islamist group behind the mass shooting at the Kenyan mall in 2013. They are believed to have ties to Al-Qaeda and Kenya has officially recognized a man named Mohamed Mohamud as wanted in connection with the group, CNN reported.
Kenya has been an easy target for Al-Shabaab given the weak defenses along the border with Somalia. The Kenyan government is seeking help in stopping future attacks promised by Al-Shabaab, the Standard reported.
Kenyan officials decided to close Garissa indefinitely and are currently findings ways to get surviving students home. Certain regions of Kenya are also on a dawn-to-dusk curfew.