A police officer was hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds after engaging a suspected criminal gang in Isiolo county in a dramatic shoot-out on Sunday, March 29.
The officer had reportedly accompanied a senior police officer, in a police vehicle, to Merti, Isiolo County where they were ambushed by the gang alleged to be ferrying marijuana.
The officer was shot in his hand and legs and was rushed by his colleague to Merti Sub-County Hospital where the bullets were successfully removed before he was taken to Isiolo Referral Hospital.
The senior officer, who returned to the scene of the shoot-out, found a vehicle abandoned after the gang fled. Police then notified their counterparts in neighboring Meru County who shot dead a boda boda rider found ferrying marijuana.
The incident was confirmed by Isiolo County Commisioner Herman Shambi who claimed that the rider was ferrying a consignment from the gang.
"The criminals left the vehicle behind. Our officers immediately informed the Meru security team and one of the boda boda riders who reportedly ferried the bhang was shot dead,” Shambi stated.
Shambi further warned area residents against colluding with criminals, explaining that the officers could have been set-up as they were working on information given to them by members of the public about the gang.
The vehicle left behind by the alleged gang members was towed to Merti Police Station in Isiolo.
Shambi revealed that investigations would seek to establish, among other things, who owned the vehicle used by the suspected gang.
Earlier this month, police in Isiolo also engaged suspected bandits in a fierce-shootout following the theft of 38 cows.
The cows, recovered in Isiolo on Sunday, March 15 after the shoot-out, were believed to have been stolen from a herder in in Naperere, Laikipia County.
“Our officers, assisted by the members of the public, recovered the cows at Ndugu Zangu Primary School after a fierce fire exchange but there were no casualties,” stated County Commissioner Shambi.
He explained that the armed bandits had ambushed the herder and stolen the cows before driving off towards Loturo in Oldonyiro, Isiolo County.
