A police officer and a robbery suspect were on Tuesday night killed in an operation aimed at arresting the suspect at a city estate off Thika Road.
Sergeant Gravious Osieno, who was attached to Lunga Lunga Police Station, was killed during the shootout in Kamae, Kahawa West, in Roysambu Sub-county.
Another police officer was rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds.
The slain suspect was identified as 23-year-old Ibrahim Waweru Wagechi aka ‘Mwarabu’.
“He was on the list of wanted criminals. We have been searching for him over a series of crimes in Nairobi. We had a tip that he was hiding in his house,” Makadara police chief Timon Odingo said.
After more than three hours, police managed to gun down the suspect after he fell into an open pit, where a latrine was about to be constructed.
The police impounded a Ceska pistol loaded with two .9mm-calibre bullets, a used round and a home-made gun at the suspect’s home. They also arrested the suspect’s friend, a 20-year-old woman.
The officers further said they found assorted mobile phones believed to have been stolen from an M-Pesa shop in South B Shopping Centre. The phones were hidden under the suspect’s mattress, besides several items belonging to Kenya Power company.
Body from the pit
Mr Odingo explained that his officers got help from their Roysambu and Kasarani colleagues.
“The officers from Makadara were joined by others from Roysambu police and their colleagues from Kasarani division,” Mr Odingo explained.
The officers retrieved the body from the pit using a rope, but when they couldn’t find the suspect’s gun, a generator was brought in to pump out water and drain the pit. When they still could not find any firearms, they enlisted the help of area youths to scoop out all the mud from the pit.
“Although the landowner had not built the toilet, the suspect’s body was stuck after it was pierced by metal objects inside the pit. We had to use a generator to drain the water,” Mr Odingo explained, adding that that is how the managed to find the Ceska pistol loaded with two rounds of ammunition while a third used round was recovered from the mud. The body of the deceased was taken to the City mortuary. BY DAILY NATION