Stray bullet hits vendor as police hunt down gang

A sugarcane vendor was wounded by stray bullets, as a military officer wrestled a robber who was being tracked by police in Nyeri.

The vendor, only identified as Dennis, was going about his business along Baden Powell Road in Nyeri town, while the police were pursuing the suspected robber. The suspect was part of a gang that had attempted to rob traders at King'ong'o.

The gang escaped towards Kiawara and Nyeri towns after residents raised the alarm, unaware that a combined force of different police units were on pursuit.

On reaching Baden Powell Park, police  opened fire on the suspect who was walking along the park's fence.

An officer, who sought anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media, said the police were forced to shoot in the air after learning that the suspect intended to flee into the usually busy Majengo estate.

"They learnt that the suspect was flee into the busy estate, and they fired a warning shot, but the vendor panicked and ran towards the opposite direction and was hit by a stray bullet," said the officer.

And as the man fled towards Majengo, with officers in hot pursuit, he came across a woman whom he used as a human shield. But a KDF officer in plainclothes wrestled him to the ground and the woman managed to escape.

The military man subdued the suspect, making an easy catch for the officers who were still firing in the air.

Armed plainclothes police officers riding in an unmarked vehicle had a hard time leaving the scene where Dennis had been shot. The public barricaded the road, and demanded that they first rush the vendor to hospital.