He walked in on a hospital robbery by his friends. They shot him dead
Rodgers Opiyo was reluctant to go and get his aunt her medicine but then changed his mind and picked the money and rushed to a chemist which is just 10 meters from where they live in Umoja-Innercore.
It was just a few minutes past the curfew, but to them, it was normal to go and get medicine from Phadam Hospital located a few metres away from their house every now and then when their guardian, who has ulcers and also suffers from pain on one of her legs, returns home from work.
Speaking to Nairobi News, a relative described how the fourth-year student at Meru University, who was raised by his aunt after his mother passed away when he was young, took long to return with the medicine, which prompted his aunt to send one of his cousins to go and find out why he was taking so long.
“He was a friend with the caretaker of the flat and sometimes he would go and hang out with him at his house and that is where auntie thought he was,” she said.
She added that one of the younger boys who had been sent came back and said Opiyo was not with the caretaker and that is when she decided to go out and look for him. She found him lying in a pool of blood by the door of the hospital.
According to a nurse at the hospital, Opiyo popular known as Plateind, walked into a robbery by two young men and when they saw him, they beckoned him to sit down but he hesitated because he didn’t know what was going on.
“When he walked in, he distracted them, and that is when the doctor, a receptionist, security guard and I managed to escape in different directions and soon after we had a gunshot,” the nurse added.
The nurse said that the two thugs were frustrated because they didn’t get any money or valuables when they raided the premises and decided to take the money he was holding and his mobile phone.
Police said a commotion ensued between the thugs and Opiyo who is said to have identified them as they were robbing him of his valuables.
Police and witnesses added that the gang shot him in the neck after he identified them as his friends from the neighbourhood.
The doctor on duty said the gang went in posing as customers seeking services at the reception and their main pharmacy before they turned out to be thugs.
They then ordered all those who were present to lie down and surrender all their valuables and cash.
It was during the robbery mission that Opiyo identified them and questioned one of them why they were stealing from him.
Without any hesitation, the gunman pulled the trigger killing him on the spot.
The body of the 22-year-old was taken to Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital mortuary for postmortem.
On Thursday, detectives spent the better part of the day at Phadam Hospital near Unity Primary School, where Opiyo was shot dead combing through CCTV, while getting statements from witnesses as they launched investigations to follow possible leads to help in the arrest of the fugitive suspects.