Two people nurse gunshot wounds after botched robbery attempt during 'chama'

Endebbess OCPD Salesio Muriithi said the three attackers, one of them armed with an AK-47 rifle, ambushed a team attending a merry-go-round (chama) event in the 9pm incident. [iStockphoto]

Two people are nursing gunshot wounds after an armed gang raided a home in an attempted robbery at Kolongei village in Endebbess constituency, Trans Nzoia, on Friday night.

Confirming the incident, Endebbess OCPD Salesio Muriithi said the three attackers, one of them armed with an AK-47 rifle, ambushed a team attending a merry-go-round (chama) event in the 9pm incident.

He said rumours had it that the homeowner had sold his dry maize and had money and as they held their chama that night, the gang struck and ordered all of them to lie down.

"The armed robber entered the house and ordered the people inside to lie down but one person who was sitting on a sack of maize took long to respond, and they misconstrued that he did not obey, prompting the thug to shoot at him," said Muriithi.

He disclosed that the bullet lodged in the first victim's chest, 35-year-old Kennedy Cheminingwa, who has since been rushed to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret for treatment.

The other victim, 23-year-old Ann Chebet who screamed also sustained a gunshot wound on her pelvis, was taken to the Kitale Level Four hospital for treatment.

But the thugs did not steal anything as they fled after the second victim raised the alarm.