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Robber killed in rooftop drama


A mother is mourning after police shot dead her son in a dramatic rooftop operation on Jogoo Road.

Police say they trailed Kevin Mong’are, 23, after allegedly spotting him robbing passengers in a Citi Hoppa bus on Tuesday morning.

Kevin’s Mother, Rachel Mong’are, is a tenant at the Sh20,000-a-month flats.

Police had earlier escorted Ms Mong’are to plead with her son to come down from the roof, but he refused, claiming the officers had no intention of taking him alive.

Distraught mother

“I begged him to come down but he told me to plead with them not to kill him. Those were the last words I heard from my son. Why didn’t they just arrest him? Isn’t that why we have prisons?” said the distraught mother.

Witnesses said they had seen Kevin run into one of the apartment blocks after firing at the officers who were chasing him.

Apparently, he was seeking refuge at his mother’s house but was unable to get there.

Tenants said he engaged the officers in a gun battle before being cornered at the rooftop where he was shot dead.

Police said they recovered a Ceska pistol and three bullets from him.

“I was in the shower when I heard the gunshots. I instinctively jumped out to lock the door. As soon as I had locked it I heard him trying to force the bathroom door open.”

“He jumped into the ceiling and somehow found his way to my roof where he was eventually killed,” said tenant Carol Mutiso.

“In as much as we knew he was on the wrong, by the time he was on the roof he had surrendered. Even after he was unconscious they pumped over five bullets into him,” says David Ruto, the apartments’ caretaker.

The fire department was called in to bring down Mong’are’s body from the roof. The body was taken to the City Mortuary.

“He shot at our officers and opted to run around. We cannot be sure he would have opened fire on them as he refused to throw his gun down,”  said Nairobi police boss Benson Kibue when asked about the killing.