Gun in Kimathi street shootout owned by police
One of the firearms recovered during the Tuesday shoot-out on Kimathi Street in Nairobi belongs to the police.
The shoot-out between police and robbers led to the recovery of the Ceska pistol with six rounds of ammunition.
The gun had been snatched from a Flying Squad officer at the gate of his residence in Umoja on March 8, 2013.
Nairobi county commander Benson Kibue on Wednesday said the gun was found on one of the suspected robbers, Hirum Maina Munga, 32, who was shot dead on Kimathi street.
Police have identified the other suspect as Jackson Chege Maina, 30.
Shot on the left leg
Police say they know two suspects who escaped but they declined to release their details.
The gang is said to have been colluding with serving police officers and people withdrawing money from banks.
Mr Kibue also said that three other passers-by were hit by stray bullets.
Mr Mohammed Hassan, a chief in Wajir, was shot on the left leg while his wife Zeituni Yusuf, 35, was shot in the head and died on the spot. She was buried on Tuesday afternoon.
Another member of public Sahata Abdulkadir was shot on the right leg.
Police have maintained that the fleeing gangsters shot the civilians, but eye witnesses said they were shot by officers who were pursuing the suspects.
A corporal with Central’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations was also shot and is recovering at a city hospital.
Police have been criticized over the manner in which they handled the Tuesday’s shooting in the city centre where a member of public lost her life and two others injured.
In the past one month officers have lost about five firearms in Nairobi.
Last week a bodyguard of High Court judge Justice Weldon Korir lost his official Ceska pistol and was charged in court.
An Administration Police Corporal attached to the Judicial Service Commission as commissioner Florence Mwangangi’s driver also lost his firearm.