An officer attached to the elite presidential escort unit has died by suicide in Kiambu County.

Police Constable Samuel Ngatia reportedly shot himself in the head in his house within the General Service Unit (GSU) Recce Squad camp in Juja on Monday.

Ngatia, who was attached to Deputy President William Ruto’s security team, was alone in the house and the motive behind the suicide is yet to be known.

Officers who rushed to the scene recovered a Jericho pistol with 13 rounds of ammunition, a Tavor sub-machine gun with two magazines loaded with 30 rounds of ammunition each, and a magazine loaded with 15 rounds of ammunition.

"Recovery of Jericho serial number KP 44338526 with 13 rounds of 9 mm; a magazine with 15 rounds of 9 mm and Tavor SMG serial number KP 45806012 with two magazines loaded with 30 rounds of 5.56mm each were all recovered," reads a police report of the incident.

Police also recovered two spent cartridges and one bullet head.

“He used his pistol and shot himself in the head with preliminary findings showing that the bullet entered on the right side and exited on the left side,” the report adds.

The body of the deceased officer was moved to Kenyatta University Funeral Home as investigations into the incident continue.