By Wanja Waweru
In a failed heist, a gang of boda boda riders battled and disarmed a shooter in Ngara, Nairobi.
The defendant was lynched by the mob after they had disarmed him and claimed that he and his companions were ruining their business, according to the police.
This is in spite of the gunman’s attempt to shoot into the air to frighten the riders and warn them that the object he was holding was not a toy.
The shooter was a member of a gang that was Saturday night targeting and robbing passersby near the Kolobot-Wangari Maathai Road intersection.
On a motorcycle, the assailants may stop and ambush people for money and belongings before escaping.
Police said that after learning about the occurrences, a group of nearby bodaboda riders noticed the rider and a passenger before a chase started.
Before a female pedestrian arrived and said the males had earlier attacked her and taken her mobile phone, they had caught up with the men a few meters ahead.
At that point, one of the shooters pulled out his Czeska pistol and fired into the air to startle the motorcyclists, according to Nairobi police chief Adamson Bungei.
One of the riders was able to take the shooter’s weapon, which forced the others to get off their motorcycle and try to flee on foot.
Bungei said that one of the motorcyclists was pursued, caught up with, and killed by the other riders.
Moments after they arrived, police found the men’s motorcycle and the 12-bullet pistol they were using.
The police arrested one of the suspects.
Police said that they are looking into the incidence.
“We discourage mob lynching and it is better for suspects to be handed to police for processing,” he said.
