Fresh details have emerged on what happened leading to the fatal shooting of a police officer in Thika Town, Kiambu County.
Constable Bernard Koome of Spiv in Thika was shot and killed in a botched robbery in Thika town. The incident happened in Kianjau area at about 4 pm.
Koome of Spiv in Thika was in the company of other colleagues when he was shot in the neck. Police said the officers were within Cravers area when they sighted a suspicious motorcycle and intercepted it.
Upon intercepting it, the rider abandoned it and started to run away, police said. He then stopped and knelt down, pretending to surrender as the two police officers approached him.
They did not know his plans. According to police, the suspect drew a gun and started firing aimlessly as the officers approached him thinking he was ready to be arrested.
In the process he shot Koome in the neck as he escaped on foot, witnesses and police said. The other colleagues pursued the gunman who continued firing in the air as he was escaping, witnesses and police said.
One of the colleagues who was not armed picked Koome’s pistol and pursued the suspect for a short while before he vanished.
This is after the suspect had hijacked a bodaboda rider who had carried a pillion passenger and ordered him off the motorcycle.
A video that captured the drama showed the suspect approach the rider at gun point and take control of the motorcycle before riding off.
He had ordered the rider and a female pillion passenger to leave. By then, constable Koome had been rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival, police said.
A major operation was conducted in the area in vain. Police said two spent cartridges of 9mm calibre were found at the scene.
A Czeska pistol magazine was also recovered loaded with seven rounds of 9mm. The magazine belonged to the suspect, police said.
The recovered bullets were sent for ballistic tests as the hunt on the suspect goes on. Police said no arrest was made. The hunt on the suspect is ongoing.
The area has been experiencing a fluctuation of crime in general amid operations to contain the trend.
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