One thug was killed, another sustained serious injuries and
others escaped in a foiled siege at a Karen home,Nairobi on Saturday.The
heavily armed gang of seven stormed the residence with an intention of robbing
the guests at the uptown home.
The host, who is a licensed firearm holder managed to rescue
the visitors who were just about to depart at around 1am. Security footages
released to Standard Digital show how the licensed firearm holder fired several
rounds of ammunition, while the robbers scampered for safety.
In a statement from the area residents, they recounted how
the robbers had earlier been spotted near the residence lazily eating Miraa.
Police have said they launched a massive manhunt for the robbers who are
believed to be behind a series of attacks targeting residential houses. “One of
the runaway suspects was armed with an AK-47 rifle. We are hunting them down,”
Karen Officer Commanding Police Division Suiyanka Cunningham said.
The leafy Nairobi suburb is synonymous with affluence,
tranquillity and beefed up security. But in the recent few months, cases of
insecurity have been on the rise. For the past one month, a gang operating on
motorbikes has been terrorising Karen residents. The attack patterns - where
the victims are left with deep cuts - suggest that it is the same gang.
In one of the attacks along Nyumba Moja Road, two men on a
motorbike accosted three men at about 9.30pm and stabbed one of them in the
stomach when he tried to resist. Before that, there had been another attack
just about a kilometre away by a gang on a motorbike.
In February, a 75-year-old American environmentalist Esmond
Bradley Martins was also murdered at his Karen residence. Esmond had three deep
stab wounds on the neck and was found unconscious in a pool of blood next to
his bed. Police said more security officers have been deployed to beef up
security and patrols in the area.