A Kenya Defence Forces officer died from a gunshot wound during an armed robbery in Nairobi’s Utawala estate.
Senior private Joseph Mwangi Thitu, 33, was walking home at around 8 pm when a gang of three on a motorcycle accosted him and demanded his backpack.
Police and witnesses said a scuffle ensued after the soldier resisted the robbery attempt.
“He resisted prompting one of the thugs to shoot at him where he fell on the ground. The thugs then made away with the bag and boarded their motorcycle and sped off towards mawe mbili direction,” reads a police report.
Guards who were manning a nearby supermarket heard the gunshot, rushed to the scene, and took the soldier to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
“A close assessment of the body showed that he was shot from the lower back where the bullet exited at the lower loin,” the report adds.
Detectives deployed to the scene did not recover any spent cartridge. They, however, recovered the deceased’s mobile phone, personal documents and a total of Ksh37,300 in his pockets.
It remains unclear what the backpack he was carrying contained.
The body was moved to the City Mortuary for an autopsy examination and a manhunt launched for the gang.
