Chaos erupted along Moi Avenue in the Nairobi central business district on Friday afternoon, after a security guard and a passer-by were hit by stray bullets.
Witnesses claimed the shooter was actor Ainea Ojiambo. They said he had been walking down the street when he was accosted by three thugs who wanted to snatch his gold neck chain.
Unknown to the criminals, the actor had a gun, which he immediately drew and aimed at them, causing them to scamper for safety, the witnesses said.
In the brief melee that followed, two gunshots were heard. The first bullet hit the security guard’s left eye, as he manned the entrance to Cubes exhibition stores. The passerby was shot in the ribs and was quickly carried into Kassangas music shop a few metres away from the scene of the shooting.
A police officer and a boda boda rider carry a person shot along Moi Avenue in Nairobi on April 30, 2021.
Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
It was said that the actor, a self-proclaimed lover of gold, had aimed for the thugs who had run towards the security guard, but missed.
“He pushed one of the men, pulled out a gun and tried shooting the thugs but unfortunately, the first bullet hit the security guard, who was seated at the entrance to exhibition stores, while the second bullet hit another man who was walking by,” a source said.
The three thugs ingeniously escaped through an alley leading to Government Lane.
Police did not confirm the witness accounts.
Police protection
By the time the Nation arrived at the scene, the security guard was lying in a pool of blood, writhing in pain.
Angry onlookers had by then circled Mr Ojiambo, threatening to beat him up, but he was protected by police officers who took him to Central Police Station.
This angered the members of the public further as they accused the police of focusing on rescuing the actor, leaving the bleeding security guard at the scene.
Police try to calm members of the public after a security guard and a passerby were shot along Moi Avenue on April 30, 2021.
Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group
A protest ensued, with boda boda riders and others accusing police of “securing the suspect”. It was then that the officers lobbed teargas canisters to disperse the crowd.
“Why couldn’t they have left the suspect with a few of their colleagues and rushed the victim to hospital? The police station is less than a kilometre away. They should have sent another car to take this actor to the station,” a witness told the Nation.
The security guard remained at the scene, bleeding, for about 20 minutes before an ambulance arrived. The passer-by was also taken from the music shop and rushed to hospital in a Nairobi County ambulance.
Awaiting charges
Lawyer Cliff Ombeta, who was present at Central Police Station, confirmed he was representing Mr Ojiambo in the matter but said they were still not sure what he would be charged with.
“We have to know of the victims’ health status before we are sure of what charges my client will be facing. Let us give it time for now,” he told the Nation.
Police officers at the scene of the shooting of two people along Moi Avenue in Nairobi on April 30, 2021.
Jeff Angote | Nation Media Group
There were rumours that the victim had died and that his body had been taken to City Mortuary but a senior officer at the morgue told the Nation that they had not received any victim of a shooting.
“We have not yet recorded such an incident. Had the guard been brought here, we would have easily identified him because they have uniforms,” the officer said.
The health status of the guard, who was identified only as Phillip, was yet to be confirmed by press time, with the police remaining tight-lipped on the matter.
He has been working with the Carewatch Security firm for a “few years”, a colleague of his, identified only as Rose, said.
His career began at the Kibra radio station Pamoja FM, and it later moved to CGTN, formerly CCTV.
Later, he was hired by K24, a channel owned by Mediamax, before switching to Citizen TV in 2017.
Mugambi won the Outstanding Media Security Investigative Award for the year 2019.
He received praise from the Protective and Safety Association of Kenya (PROSAK) for his excellent and dependable reporting on security issues in the nation.
At the Nairobi Security Expo in 2023, he received the Security and Crime Reporter of the Year 2023 honor.
The Trade Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria has received criticism from content creator and comedian Eric Omondi for admitting that he regretted supporting his tour to the United States seven years ago.
Eric, who has argued forcefully against the Finance Bill 2023, has gone to London “for lunch” to show Mr. Kuria that he can afford to pay for his travel expenses.
The comedian pleaded with the CS in a post on his Instagram account not to accept the planned taxation of content producers so that they may also travel in Business Class without receiving financial help from politics.
“After hearing Moses Kuria speak, I decided to take myself to London just for Lunch and also thank God for how far He’s brought us. Thank you bwana Kuria for sponsoring my tour seven years ago but please don’t tax content creators 15% so that they are able to tour on their own,” he said.
Mr. Kuria criticized Eric on live television on Wednesday at the Citizen TV-hosted Big Conversation debate for criticizing the government regarding the draft Bill.
He expressed sorrow over what he claimed to have funded Eric for a vacation to the US seven years prior, claiming that he might have instead had fun with the money.
“I have heard Eric Omondi claiming he is a youth. Seven years ago I used my own money to take him to America to expose him and right now, according to the way he is talking, I wished I used that money to party because it doesn’t seem like he learned anything from it,” Mr Kuria said from Belarus.
A family from Bukhaywa village, Lurambi Constituency, Kakamega county, is calling for justice after their three-year-old son’s right hand was amputated of all the fingers due to improper treatment.
“My son had a burn on his left hand and was in a stable condition when we took him to hospital, but because of the doctor’s negligence, all his right fingers were cut off and he is disabled now,” the victim’s father Mr Zephaniah Likavo said.
Winnie Auma, the mother of the victim, claimed that the nurse was an intern who gave her son an incorrect drug injection. When she witnessed how the son’s body responded, she reported the incident to the doctor, but nothing was done about it.
“My son was crying in pain and the colour of his hand changed. I wondered what was happening and reported to the doctor, but no action was taken. Instead, he said it was normal for such a reaction to happen,” she said
The family claims they received word shortly after that their son’s fingers would need to be amputated in order to stop an infection.
The management of the hospital refuted the accusations, claiming that the family had moved their son to a different facility where his fingers had been severed.
“We treated their son and there was a challenge in finding the vein in the hand, so it affected his fingers and later they wanted a transfer to another hospital for specialised treatment. That’s where they amputated the fingers,” the official said.