Operatives drawn from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Wednesday, January 4, gunned down a man caught robbing a woman in Nairobi's Mlango Kubwa Estate.
The detectives were responding to ululations and alarms from members of the public who witnessed the 22-year-old suspect attacking the woman while on her way to work at around 8 am.
Upon the arrival of the detectives at the scene, the suspected robber and his accomplices took to their heels in an attempt to escape the impending arrest.
This prompted the officers to engage them in street pursuit along the busy Juja Road.
Calls from the officers to have the suspects surrender went unheeded, as one of them opened fire leaving them with no option but to shoot at the target.
In the shooting, the deceased was fatally injured while his accomplices escaped with serious bullet injuries.
According to a statement by the DCI, the deceased was the leader of an infamous gang going by the name "Katombi gang", that was linked to several criminal activities in the area.
The suspect, DCI added, was hell-bent on reviving the gang - less than a year after sleuths stationed in Starehe neutralized it.
"The suspect who has been on the detectives’ radar for the past few weeks was fatally wounded in a barrage of gunfire after he defied orders to surrender and attacked one of our men," the statement read in part.
"He turned on the officer leading the charge closely behind him and opened fire missing his head by a whisker, prompting the officer to return fire and stop the shenanigans with finality!"
A homemade firearm capable of firing, 2 rounds of 9mm calibre, a knife, and the stolen mobile phone were recovered from the fallen suspect.
Information about the whereabouts of the two accomplices was not revealed by the time of this publication. The incident came amid concerns about increased criminal activities in Nairobi and its suburbs.
The last quarter of 2022 was punctuated by a string of mugging cases targeting city dwellers, a trend that warranted a stern reaction from the government.
In one of the measures taken, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki was on record directing police officers to use their firearms in defending themselves while confronting criminals.
