Police are holding a licensed gun holder after he shot and killed a 25-year-old liquor delivery man in an argument in Thome area, Nairobi.
The deceased was identified as Joel Austin Macharia Maina. He was shot in the head and the bullet exited on the right side, police said.
The incident happened inside a car belonging to the licensed firearm holder identified as Peter Lang’at Chuma.
It happened outside a petrol station.
Langat was arrested hours after the incident on Thursday at about 12 am.
He told police he and Macharia had an argument in his Land Rover Defender car that went bad.
He claimed the deceased grabbed his pistol prompting a confrontation and shooting.
The bullet pierced through the head exiting on the left side.
Responders said that after the incident the alleged shooter fled from the scene.
Kasarani Sub County Criminal Investigations Officer Alloyce Mboya said killer bullet entered through the left side of the head and exited on the right side.
The body was taken to the City Mortuary awaiting a postmortem exercise.
The deceased did liquor deliveries from a liquor store at a nearby petrol station in Thome and he was delivering the same to his alleged shooter.
Maina was shot at the petrol station’s parking lot inside Lang’at’s Land Rover Defender car, police said.
He was seated at the driver’s seat when the incident happened, witnesses and police said.
The vehicle whose driver’s seat is covered with the deceased’s blood was detained at the Kasarani Police Station.
Lang’at is expected to be arraigned at the Makadara Law Court where detectives probing the case will seek more time to investigate the incident.
The incident prompted protests in the area with locals calling for justice for Maina.
A group used stones and bonfires to block the road.
The deceased’s mother Caroline Naserian wants justice for the incident.
Police said that during interrogation Lang’at told them that he was Maina’s friend and that he went for his gun and during the commotion it went off discharging one bullet.
Naserian said despite her son being shot at around midnight she received the news Thursday morning at around 9:30am.
“He was there [liquor store] for like three weeks and the last time he came, he brought me milk and told me that, it was from his first salary,” said the mother.
“I didn’t know that was the first salary he will buy me anything with,” added Naserian.
Attendants at the Kyms liquor store however denied that Maina was doing deliveries for them saying that he was not their employee but admitted that they knew him.
Witnesses said that they knew him and he would spend his time at a bodaboda stage and at the liqour store where one of his friends worked.
Mboya said that detectives were still questioning Lang’at and other people who may have witnessed the midnight shooting.
He added police will seek a court order to retrieve CCTV footage from the liquor store, chemist and the petrol station for more information.
Njanja Maina from the Law Society of Kenya said that they had come to confirm the incident and assist the family with the process.
“We have managed to confirm that one of the pieces of evidence which is the vehicle is here at the station.”
She said that Maina’s family had identified his body at the morgue.
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