How suspect linked to Westlands restaurant robbery was cornered and killed in police shootout

A day after a gang struck at a restaurant in Westlands, Nairobi, and robbed customers, the prime suspects are said to have been shocked to find footage of the attack circulating online.

They switched off their mobile phones and went underground, police who have been pursuing them reveal.

Some of them were later traced to Kisumu, where informers who had identified them said they were seen.

Hours later, police arrested five suspects in an operation in Eastleigh and Mombasa Road and recovered 65 mobile phones.

According to the police, the suspects named all the four gunmen who raided Chai Wali Restaurant along General Mathenge and provided their details.

The wanted suspects had escaped Nairobi. One of them was Vincent Ochieng, who was fatally injured in a police raid in the Joska area, Machakos County, police said.

The suspects had raided the restaurant on July 4 and made away with mobile phones and a laptop in a dramatic incident that was captured on security cameras.

And nine days later, Ochieng was traced to a house in the Joska area. He had returned to the city hoping to continue with his life.

A team of detectives from the DCI headquarters had been monitoring his movements. He had apparently called his girlfriend using a different number.

Hours later on Monday, July 13, a team knocked on his house on the second floor of an apartment which had only one front door exit.

The suspect, according to the police, sensed the presence of the officers before they could gain access to the house and started shooting at the officers. The officers responded swiftly, fatally shooting the suspect.

He had refused to surrender and dared the officers to get in so that they could meet. This came as detectives intensified efforts to dismantle a criminal network blamed for a string of violent robberies in Nairobi and its neighbouring counties.

According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the suspect was killed after opening fire on detectives who had raided a house in Joska Town, where he was reportedly hiding at his girlfriend’s residence.

The woman and a child were unharmed in the drama.

THE OPERATION

The operation was conducted jointly by detectives from DCI Headquarters and DCI Matungulu following intelligence on the suspect’s whereabouts.

Police said officers identified themselves and ordered the occupants to open the door, but the suspect instead fired at them through a kitchen window.

Detectives returned fire, fatally wounding him.

After securing the house, officers recovered a Beretta pistol fitted with a magazine loaded with four rounds of 9mm ammunition.

Additional live rounds, spent cartridges and three mobile phones were also recovered from the scene.

The firearm has been forwarded to the National Police Service Forensic Laboratory for ballistic analysis to establish whether it was used in other violent crimes.

Investigators believe the suspect was part of the gang that staged a daring armed robbery at Chai Wali Hotel along General Mathenge Road in Spring Valley, Westlands.

WESTLANDS ATTACK

During the attack at about 10.40 p.m., two gunmen entered the restaurant posing as customers before drawing pistols and ordering diners to surrender their valuables.

The robbers stole seven mobile phones and an HP laptop in an operation that lasted less than a minute before fleeing on two motorcycles towards the Parklands area.

Witnesses said the attackers fired two rounds into the air as they escaped, apparently to scare off anyone who might attempt to pursue them.

Police later recovered a spent 9mm cartridge at the scene. Investigators subsequently traced some of the stolen mobile phones to Kariobangi, providing fresh leads in the investigation.

Surveillance footage from the restaurant showed masked gunmen pointing pistols at customers as they demanded phones and other valuables.

Terrified patrons were seen taking cover as the robbers fled. Police said investigations have strongly linked the suspect killed in Joska to the Westlands robbery and other violent robberies reported in Nairobi, Kiambu and Machakos counties.

A manhunt has been launched for the remaining gang members, who are still at large. The DCI said it remains committed to dismantling violent criminal gangs and bringing all those involved in serious crimes to justice.

Police have intensified operations to tame the armed gangs on the loose trying to make a living.

The team in the probe says they are pursuing more gang members who have been linked to attacks targeting mobile phones in the city and Mombasa.