Trader shot dead, two others hospitalised as motorcycle-riding gang reign terror

Two traders are nursing gunshot wounds while another has been shot dead as motorcycle-riding gangsters spread fear in parts of Laikipia North sub-County.

According to the residents, the a shopkeeper, Lawrence Macharia, was shot dead last Saturday while Daniel Mberia, his neighbour at Zimbabwe Shopping Centre in Segera Ward is nursing gunshot injuries on his right leg.

Mberia, an employee at a flower farm and a father of three, says that he was from buying meat at a nearby butchery at around 7.30pm when he heard a commotion from a shop in the same building. When he went to find out what was happening, the gangsters turned the gun on him.

He says several other shots were fired towards him but he managed to escape.

After killing Macharia, the three raiders escaped on a motorbike.

No arrests yet

Police are yet to make any arrests, a week after the incident.

The incident has caused fear among residents and traders some of whom have closed their businesses and moved to other areas.

On Saturday, September 17, the traders said the raiders had returned around midnight where the went around the shopping centres knocking on doors and asking the owners to open. Fortunately, no ugly incident was reported.

The residents are accusing police of laxity and are calling for an overhaul of police officers at the nearby Ngareng’iro Police Station.

In Dol Dol town, another trader - Attanassio Karwithia - is recuperating at the Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital after an armed gang raided his shop on Friday night.

He says he put up a resistance against the raiders but was eventually overpowered and shot on the right hand.

Speaking from his hospital bed, the victim said his shop was swept clean as he writhed in pain.

Another trader from the area George Gitonga says 14 shops have been raided in the recent past by the gang. Gitonga says the robbers come in group of 20.

Despite Dol Dol town located barely 400 metres from the local police station, the residents say the law enforcers rarely respond during the attacks which are now occurring almost daily.

Segera Ward MCA-elect Salim Edong has called for deployment of additional National Police Reservist and removal of inactive police officers from the area to improve security and restore investor’s confidence.