Businessman, guard arrested in Eastleigh gun drama

Two people were arrested on Tuesday night following a gun drama incident in Nairobi’s Eastleigh area.

The two included a licensed gun holder and a guard at a shopping mall.

A four-wheel drive car belonging to the gun holder was pelted with stones and seriously damaged in the drama at about 8 pm.

Police said the fracas broke out along 12^th Street, which is usually jammed with pedestrians, prompting the gun holder to shoot to the air three times in efforts to scare a mob that was baying for his blood.

This followed a disagreement between a security guard and a businessman who is a licensed gun holder.

The guard claimed the businessman was blocking the entrance to the mall, prompting a bitter confrontation.

This attracted a mob, which joined in confronting the hawker who had parked his car in the same area.

In the confusion, the licensed gun holder reached for his pistol as a mob dared him to shoot.

A video taken at the scene captured a mob shouting at him and daring him to shoot if the weapon was real.

He shot into the air three times, damaging a window pane of a nearby house and sending the mob on the run for their safety.

Police said it was then that the mob also pelted him with stones and other objects, leaving the Toyota Land Cruiser V8 damaged.

The gun holder also lost the magazine to his pistol in the drama.

Police rushed to the scene and saved the man from the drama and escorted him to the station. The guard was also arrested pending investigation.

Nairobi police boss George Sedah said police are investigating the drama.

And a team of detectives apprehended two suspects behind a string of violent robberies that have unsettled Busia town and its surrounding areas.

The suspects were smoked out of their hideout in Malaba township, where authorities recovered a Tokarev pistol loaded with eight rounds of 7.62 x 25mm ammunition from the residence of one of them.

Police are investigating if the weapon has been used in crime. Crime incidents have been on the rise in the area amid efforts to address the trend.