NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 22-Detectives have gunned down one of the suspected thugs believed to have been involved in the cold-blooded murder of the Directorate of Criminal Investigation agent, David Mayaka in Nairobi’s Kayole area two weeks ago.
The suspect, John Kamau, was fatally shot after refusing to comply with orders to surrender and instead opening fire on the security agents who had been dispatched to apprehend him.
Detectives say the deceased thug had emerged from his door at an apartment in Njiru Sub-County and shot at one of the security agents men injuring him on his left thigh using the CZ pistol which is believed to be the same murder weapon that took the life of the DCI agent.
“This prompted his colleagues to retaliate with speed and efficiency killing the miscreant on the spot in the dawn operation conducted on the second floor of flat B4-124, by an elite team of sleuths drawn from the Crime Research & Intelligence Bureau,” DCI said Tuesday.
The CZ pistol serial number B626735, loaded with 12 rounds of 9mm calibre was recovered, in the operation that also involved a back up team of detectives from Soweto and Njiru.
Also recovered in a backpack were assorted mobile phones suspected to have been violently acquired from victims of crime in the city.
The agency further disclosed that preliminary investigations conducted by ballistic experts based at the DCI National Forensic Laboratory have linked the firearm to over five armed robberies staged in Nairobi and Kiambu Counties in the last one year.
“The robberies targeted MPESA outlets in the populous residential areas of Kayole, Buru Buru, Dandora and Dagoretti,” DCI added.
Detectives have since established that the recovered firearm had been violently robbed from an aide to a former Cabinet Secretary, in a robbery incident reported on November 17, 2021 in Ngong, Kajiado County.
During the incident, the aide who was a licensed firearm holder was driving into his compound at around 2am, when he was accosted by a four-man gang armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and crude weapons including metal bars and machetes.
After ransacking the man’s house located at Kerarapon village, the thugs made away with his pistol serial number B626735 and 55 rounds of 9mm calibre from the aide’s safe.
The shooting of the suspect follows the arrest of one key suspect in the murder, who was apprehended last week in Kikuyu, Kiambu County.
Alex Wanjiru, 23, who was the rider of the motorbike that was used by the thugs on the fateful night was flushed out of his hideout at his grandmother’s compound in Ruthingiti village where he had gone into hiding.
The motorbike, a red Boxer registration number KMGJ 350V was also impounded. A manhunt for the third suspect Henry Njihia, who is believed to be armed and dangerous is currently underway.
Detective Mayaka who was based at DCI Makadara was driving home in the company of his wife Kemunto Mayaka on August 8, at around 10pm when they were accosted by the three-man gang riding on a motorbike.
The officer had stopped his vehicle to change a flat tyre when the thugs struck, in a heart-wrenching scene that was captured by CCTV cameras mounted at an adjacent building.
Meanwhile, the injured sleuth is recuperating at a city hospital in stable condition. We wish him quick recovery.
