Five gangsters shot dead in Mombasa
The front view of the Mombasa Polytechnic University College. Five gangsters were Tuesday evening been shot dead by police near the institution. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- The law enforcers also recovered two pistols, three magazines and 25 rounds of ammunition during the shootout that began at 4pm.
Five gangsters were Tuesday evening shot dead by police near Mombasa Technical University.
The law enforcers also recovered two pistols, three magazines and 25 rounds of ammunition during the shootout that began at 4pm.
They had a rough time cordoning the crime scene from curious students and members of the public from the nearby institution and Kaa Chonjo slums and were forced them to threaten them with a lob of teargas before they kept distance.
Police said they began trailing the gang after receiving a tip off from members of the public of a suspicious group of people in a Sienta vehicle in town.
Mombasa police boss Geoffrey Mayek said the thugs opened fire on police upon noticing that they were being followed before they were eventually overpowered in the shootout.
“Police officers acting on information that there was a group of robbers in town began trailing the motor vehicle and on realizing that they were being trailed, the armed gangsters began shooting at officers,” said the police boss.
“Our officers, who were using unmarked vehicles at the time, then shot back and managed to gun them down,” he added stressing that there was no casualty on the police side.
Mr Mayek said that the incident occurred at a time when there had been an increased case of robbery in town with the recent case of a business man killed in his shop a day earlier.
“We actually intensified our intelligence and put our officers on high alert and today we have managed to get them,” he said adding that the vehicle they were using has also been discovered to have been stolen.
