Gunmen kill one and hospitalised three people in Nyeri

Some parts of Nyeri town. 

Nyeri - One passenger has been shot dead while three others sustained injuries following an attack by unknown gun men along Nyeri-Kimahuri road.

The three were admitted at Karatina District Hospital.

The incident occurred after the Public Service Vehicle (PSV) matatu they were traveling in was sprayed with bullets near the Sagana State House, on Thursday evening.

The victims, three men and two women, were on their way from Nyeri town when the thugs said to have been armed with an AK47 riffle shot severally at the ill matatu in an apparent carjacking incident.

Speaking to the press in his hospital bed, the Matatu driver Charles Kamunya who had his right index finger injured by a bullet narrated how escaped death by a whisker.

He said that he was ferrying passengers but on reaching Tagwa forest three armed men emerged from the bush and flagged him to slow down.

He however defied the orders and attempted to reverse the vehicle so as to save the passengers but the thugs opened fire killing a 22-year-old man, Paul Dereva who was sitting on the third row of the vehicle.

“I was driving slowly on hillside when all of a sudden someone emerged from the bush armed with a gun and ordered me to stop. I immediately reversed but another vehicle blocked forcing me to land in the ditch,” said Kamuya.

He added that the thugs while armed with clued weapons and clubs then harassed and ordered them to lie down while ransacking their pockets stealing all valuable items before they disappeared in the bushes.

While confirming the incident Kieni East district commissioner Daniel Ondambu said police were pursuing the gangsters suspected to have been among a group recently released from prison.

However, residents complained of laxity among security officers stating that a police post started several years ago has not been completed yet many lives have been lost lives along the road.

They urged police officers to conduct regular patrols in the highway in order to ensure lives and properties are well protected.