Residents had no clue neighbours were hardcore thugs

Recce officers arrive at a scene where gangsters were hiding at Kenol town in Murang’a County on October 28, 2017. Two suspects were gunned down after a five hour gun drama. PHOTO | MARTIN MWAURA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • He stepped out to take a look, he was shocked by the number of spent cartridges strewn all over.
  • They told me because the officers had already killed one of their accomplices, they would go away.

Kevin is a young parent. And, like all such parents, early morning sunshine is a godsend for it is medicinal for babies.

This was what Kevin thought when he woke up last Saturday morning.

After the morning ritual, his wife was supposed to sunbathe their seven-month-old baby before the clouds could get in their way. Little did he know it was a Saturday he would wish didn’t exist.

SHOOTOUT

The young family, which was caught up in last Saturday’s deadly shootout between police officers from the elite Recce squad and three armed thugs at Kenol trading centre in Murang’a district, has recounted its five-hour ordeal in the line of fire.

The 21-year-old father recounted how two of the gangsters stormed their one bedroom house and held his wife and baby hostage as they engaged the police in a fierce shootout before they were eventually felled.

At about 10am. Kevin recounted, he started hearing gunshots from his fifth floor house.

“I was in the bedroom while my wife was in the sitting room when the shooting started. I did not take it seriously because I was not so sure whether they were gunshots or something else even as they persisted for about one hour,” he said.

HOT PURSUIT

Suddenly, the two gangsters stormed his house, which was directly opposite theirs on the top floor, brandishing AK-47 rifles and begged that they take cover in his house.

“They pleaded with me to allow them to take cover in my house since police had busted their hideout and were in hot pursuit, ready to kill them.

They told me because the officers had already killed one of their accomplices, they would go away thinking the slain gangster was alone in the house,” he told this writer, still reeling from shock.

“They were clearly terrified and I could hear them discuss how their accomplice had been sprayed with bullets,” he added.

“It was at this point that I asked them what was happening and they told me one of their friends had been traced by the police to their house,” Kevin went on.

“While in the house, the gunshots persisted, prompting the two gangsters to take cover in my bedroom while I hid in the table room with my family so that we are not killed in the confusion,” he said.

CARTRIDGES

When he stepped out to take a look, he was shocked by the number of spent cartridges strewn all over, and that is when he decided to hide in the bedroom with his family and leave the gangsters to their own devices.

“From my bedroom hideout, I could hear one of the gangsters, in desperation, telling his accomplice he intended to jump from the fifth floor balcony and escape to safety, that is, if he survived the fall.

“The second gangster would hear none of it and insisted that they either die or survive together, that he was not prepared to jump from the building,” Kevin said.

“All this time, the gunshots were intensifying between the duo and the police who I later learnt were from the Flying Squad. My wife was crying while demanding that I ask the gangsters to leave our house,” he narrated.

Five hours later, he heard, from his bedroom hideout, a loud bang and before he knew it, officers from the elite Recce squad had stormed his house.

BRIEFCASE

Kevin recounted how he heard the officers loudly demand that the gangsters produce a certain briefcase in their possession, before suddenly opening fire on them.

“I thought I was next; they knocked on my bedroom door and asked me to surrender before forcing their way in. After a brief search, they established I was innocent and took us to Kenol hospital for examination,” he added.

According to Kevin, the gangsters had been living in the flat even before he moved in with his family in August.

All along, the gangsters had passed off as motorcycle operators at Kenol town.

He told the Sunday Nation how the gangsters had developed a bond with his daughter and would always play with her whenever they were around.

Over time, Kevin had come to learn that one of the gangsters had a bachelor’s degree in food and nutrition but had opted for the boda boda job due to lack of jobs.

FIREARMS

Out of fear of being victims of revenge attacks from the gangsters’ accomplices, the young family relocated last week and requested their names and pictures do not be published.

During the shootout that brought business at the busy trading centre to a standstill, two firearms belonging to the Kenya Police Service — a Ceska pistol and an AK-47 rifle — and seven rounds of ammunition were recovered.

The pistol is believed to have been one of two that were stolen from two police officers who were shot dead in Nairobi’s sprawling Kayole estate after identification documents from one of the slain officers were found with the suspects.

Among the documents found was a letter of appointment of the officer.

The AK-47, according to police, was the same one that was stolen from the two officers who were shot dead in Kibichoi in Kiambu County earlier.

KENOL

Police said the robbers had been on their watch list for several weeks and it was not until Saturday that they cornered them hiding at Kenol.

“When they spotted the officers approaching, they opened fire from the top floor. This prevented the officers from accessing the building,” Murang’a County Commander Naomi Ichami said.

More officers from the Flying Squad based in Murang’a were deployed to the area at around midday on the material day but could not access the building as the criminals held the young family hostage in one of the rooms.

“It took us a very long time (to fell them) since they had held a young family of a father, mother and their young child hostage and were using it as a human shield, making it difficult for us to shoot them dead,” said the police commander.

It was not until five hours later that officers from the Recce Squad from Ruaraka in Nairobi were dispatched to end the siege that had proved difficult for more than 70 officers who had surrounded the building.