A mob in Lodwar attacked and killed two armed men who were trying to break into a hotel at night on Wednesday, May 17.
Speaking to the media, the residents narrated that three gunmen broke into a local hotel, which operated at night and stole money from the registry.
However, as they attempted to escape, they shot into the air attracting the attention of other businessmen in the area who realised that they had run out of bullets.
Locals narrated that the businessmen raised an alarm notifying them that the robbers could no longer harm them.
A crowd milled around and pursued the robbers before they were cornered and stoned.
‘There were men around selling groundnuts around and when they saw what had happened, they called on other residents and told them that the thieves had run out of bullets.
“They came together and went after them. The residents went after the suspected and caught two of them who they stoned to death. One man escaped,” a resident narrated.
Additionally, the owner of the hotel revealed that the thieves attempted to make away with Ksh20,000.
Police officers who arrived later at the scene carried the bodies to the mortuary and launched a manhunt for the third suspect who was still at large.
The residents lamented that such incidents had become rampant in the area noting that it was the second robbery in two weeks.
They explained that earlier, armed robbers attacked a petrol station in the area and stole about Ksh500,000.
In a separate incident in February 2023, four police officers were killed along the Kitale-Lodwar Highway after 300 suspected armed bandits ambushed them during their normal patrols.
After the incident, President William Ruto ordered Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki to relocate from his Nairobi-based office and camp in the North Rift region until the issue of insecurity in the area was resolved.
