Alarm over misuse by licensed gun holders

Kenya: Police have raised the alarm over increasing incidents of misuse of guns by licensed holders.

The gun holders are reportedly threatening, injuring and killing innocent Kenyans, especially in Nairobi. Police records in the last one month show six incidents, in which two people were killed in unclear circumstances.

Nairobi police boss Benson Kibue says they are investigating the incidents and have already taken action against some of them.

The latest incident was reported last week, where a guard was shot and wounded in the stomach and leg as he responded to a distress call in a private compound in Karen, Nairobi. Businessman James Kariuki has been asked to surrender his firearm after he shot and wounded the guard, who police say is responding well to treatment in a Nairobi Hospital.

In the incident, a gang had raided the compound, shot dead a dog before robbing the female owner of Sh15,000, a mobile phone and other valuables. Langata OCPD James Mwangi said the woman raised the alarm alerting her neighbours.

The guard, with his two colleagues, sped to the scene in a saloon car after the gang of three, one armed with a pistol, had left.

“It was then that Kariuki, the victim’s neighbour, responded and fired at the saloon car, which he thought belonged to the thugs, unfortunately injuring the guard,” said Mwangi.

The gang escaped and no arrest had been made at the time of going to press yesterday.

The incident came only a day after businessman Paul Kobia alias Paul Ilunga Ngoei, who was named in a UN report in connection with Congo gold smuggling claims, shot dead a suspected criminal on Limuru Road, Parklands in Nairobi in a botched robbery.

Kobia and police said one of the suspects had allegedly snatched his (Kobia’s) Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phone valued at Sh74,000, as he drove in a traffic snarl up prompting a chase and shooting.

Kobia, who is a licensed gun holder, was summoned to Parklands Police Station to record a statement. He told police he pursued and shot one of the suspects dead, but he did not recover his phone.

Police are now waiting for post mortem examination report to establish the cause of death of the victim identified as Wanjohi Mugwanja before forwarding the file to the Director of Public Prosecution.

Last week, businessman Brian Yongo declined to honour police summons after he shot in the air to “wake up” his guards who had failed to open the gate as he arrived home.

Yongo has since obtained a court order stopping police from confiscating his gun following the shooting incident in Runda.

The guards told police that Yongo arrived home late and got impatient as he waited for the gate to be opened, hence firing the shot in the air. He then ordered them to kneel down at gunpoint and shot in the air again.

Earlier last month, a senior insurance firm manager was arrested and charged with murder after he shot and killed a motorist and injured another in a road rage in Dagoretti area, Nairobi. The man in custody, identified as Fredrick Mwaniki, who works for the ICEA Lion Group, according to police, is a licensed gun holder and is charged with murdering Francis Ambudo in the incident.

In Parklands, a police reservist was in June disarmed by security guards after he shot in the air in a bid to force his way into a women’s hostel.

Police said the man was dropping off a female friend at the Executive Ladies Hostel and when the guards hindered him from driving his foreign registered vehicle into the hostel premises, he drew a pistol and fired twice in the air.

Police rushed to the scene, arrested him and seized the pistol, three magazines, 90 bullets, a police radio, his firearm certificate, a beret and a Kenya Police Reservist ID.