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WATCH: Moment panga-wielding thugs attempted to rob American couple


A video has been shared online capturing the moment an American couple narrowly escaped machete-wielding thugs last Friday on an earth road in Mai Mahiu.

The dashcam video shows Bryant Swenson and his wife Lauren driving down the road when they encountered a slow moving matatu. Behind it were three masked men who were pointing pangas and gesturing at them to stop as the matatu took off.

Bryant immediately put the car on a reverse gear and speed away as the thugs charged at them waving their pangas. He shifts to drive and accelerates forward, narrowly missing hitting one of the thugs.

GUNSHOTS

Police catch up with the thugs soon after and gunshots can be heard at the end of the video.

The couple and their three children moved from Cedar City, Utah, to Nairobi around three years ago to open a CrossFit gym, according to the Daily Mail.

Bryant posted the video on his Facebook account on December 01.

He wrote: ‘Our fitness can prepare us for life, but there are times when things happen so fast that we can only give credit to God for His protection.

‘This happened yesterday on our way up to Kijabe with Shiv Simani, [Collins Monde], and [Lauren Swenson]. We came upon 3 bandits robbing a matatu. I had to back up long enough to roll my window up before passing by the guy wielding the ponga (machete.)

‘HANDGUN’

‘The guy on the far left had a handgun, but couldn’t get it out of his waistbelt in time. They chose this spot for ambush because the road is very rough, but fortunately we were in my 80 series. Also thankful for a manual transmission.

‘Just before encountering the bandits, we passed two armed police on foot. The gunfire you hear at the end of the video are the cops engaging. We are thankful to have been gone before the gun battle erupted.’