The city was significantly impacted by the 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis when violence gripped Kenya in the aftermath of controversial General Elections. The athlete Lucas Sang was murdered about 10 kilometers away from the town while on his way home to Chepkoilel. On 1 January 2008, a mob attacked and set fire to a church located near burnt forest town, a satellite town of Eldoret. Hundreds of people had taken refuge during Kenyan massacres. As a result, about forty to eighty people, mostly Kikuyu, were burnt to death.