When civilian gun holders bravely fire to the rescue amidst rising insecurity

With more Kenyans arming themselves legally, stories of civilians repulsing heavily armed gangsters are becoming common. But what does it take to own a gun? [Courtesy]

When five armed gunmen stormed the Karen residence of Pembe Millers director Ahmed Salim last week, they did not expect the tide to turn on them. When the guns fell silent, a gangster lay dead and another injured.

What they had thought would be an easy heist turned tragic for the gang when their would-be victim pulled out his gun and repulsed them.

Salim had been hosting guests at his residence. The gunmen, who had been laying in ambush, stormed in when the electric gate swung open to allow the guests to leave.

One of the guests, only identified as Ibrahim, notices the gunmen and runs back into the house shouting. A gangster runs after him, firing several rounds, but Ibrahim gets into the house safely and hides behind a fridge, where he is ordered to remain by the gunman.

Laser beam

Meanwhile, Salim had heard the commotion while in the toilet. He grabs his Glock 19 pistol and confronts the AK47 gunman who was attempting to open the burglar proof door from inside.

Salim hits the gunman five times - his gun has laser beam that pinpoints the attacker’s exact location. The gunman runs back to the gate, where his accomplices had been terrorising Salim’s guests. His body was later recovered near the gate.

Another of the gunmen, who had also been shot and injured, was arrested by the police. The other three escaped.  

Contacted by Sunday Standard, Salim said he could not comment on the incident because it was still under police investigation. He also cited his personal security.

Salim is only the latest licenced gun holder to have successfully thwarted an armed robbery. Frank Shaba was teaching a lady friend how to drive along Cemetery Road off Ngong Road one afternoon in 2006 when they were confronted by five young men, three of them armed with pistols.

They had just turned back into the forested stretch of the road when the gunmen emerged from the trees and accosted them on both sides. It happened very fast.

“They suddenly jumped onto the road. One of them fired a shot in the air as they approached us. Another went to the driver’s side. Their guns were aimed at the vehicle. Realising it was either us or them, I removed and cocked my gun and waited for the opportune moment and angle to shoot,” Shaba recalls.

He shot and killed the three armed attackers, pumping the entire magazine on them. The other two unarmed thugs ran into the trees and disappeared in the few seconds of the shooting. All this while, his student kept driving. He found the two gunmen he had first shot dead along the road and the third deeper in the trees.

Shaba called the police to secure the area fearing that the escaped gunmen might return to either carry away their accomplices or recover their guns. 

From the dead gangsters, the police recovered a US Colt revolver, an Egyptian Helwan pistol loaded with seven bullets and a CZ pistol with three bullets.

So impressed was the then Nairobi police boss King’ori Mwangi, the Flying Squad and Special Crime Prevention Unit that they recommended Shaba for an exemplary performance award. He was later awarded by the Manu Chandaria Foundation for his courage.

Shaba says training on firearm use is crucial for any licenced firearm holder as practice instills confidence. The first to draw out his gun has an advantage, he says. 

“Belief and philosophy is important too as it determines whether you will have the fighting spirit when attacked or you will just sit back. You don’t have to second guess what gunmen will do to you when they find out that you have a gun,” he said.

Break-ins

“When gunmen break into your house, you have an advantage over them. Use it to your benefit,” says Shaba, who has consistently practiced at the civilian shooting range.   

For businessman Ramadhan Ali Juma, his Sig Sauer 357 came in handy when gunmen attempted to rob his guests, who included former Likoni MP Suleiman Shakombo. His Muthangari Garden Road residence in Nairobi’s Lavington estate had just been attacked in 2005.

“The gunmen forced their way into the compound when another guest was driving in. They held him at gunpoint with their AK47 rifles. When I was alerted, I grabbed my Sig Sauer 357 and shot at them, hitting one in the leg. The blast from a Sig is so loud they didn’t know how many people were shooting at them, so they ran out and escaped,” Juma recalls. 

In July 2014, controversial businessman Paul Kobia shot and killed a gangster who had snatched his Samsung Galaxy Note 3 mobile phone along Limuru Road. 

In August 2014, businessman Caleb Rado of Spectrum Security company shot and killed one gangster and injured two others who had broken into his Muigai estate residence in Kitengela, Kajiado.

The gunmen cut the window grills and entered the house. They shot at the businessman as he rushed to grab his gun.