Unknown gunmen shoot dead GSU officer, steal rifles

A police officer manning Wilson Airport in Nairobi was at the weekend shot dead as he and a colleague attended to an alleged distress call near the facility.

The constable attached to the General Service Unit (GSU) and identified as Stephene Mukangi was shot at close range and died at the scene before he was robbed his AK47 rifle.

His colleague was also robbed of his AK47 rifle and shot in the leg, but managed to escape the scene.

He told police they were manning a watchtower at the airport on Saturday when two men wearing jungle uniforms similar to those used by police approached them.

According to police, the two men asked the GSU officers to accompany them to the nearby southern bypass where their car had developed a mechanical problem.

“They told the GSU officers they needed assistance from them at the scene where their car had developed mechanical problems. They claimed to be police officers,” said an officer aware of the incident.

As the GSU officers walked to the scene from where they were, two other men in jungle uniforms joined them prompting a scuffle as they tried to grab the officer’s gun.

The other men joined the scuffle attacking the survivor. Mukangi is said to have fought hard prompting one of the men to open fire at him killing him on the spot.

The surviving officer managed to escape from the scene but after losing his rifle to the said attackers. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Langata OCPD Gregory Mutiso led a team of officers to the scene of the incident as part of the probe into the incident.

They recovered two spent cartridges, an empty butt and two magazines with 60 bullets from the scene. The airport is usually manned by GSU personnel.

Elsewhere, a police constable was arrested for alleged extortion on bars and wine and spirit shops in Langata.

According to DCI, the suspect who is attached to the Nyayo Police Post was in the habit of going into almost all of the said outlets every Friday extorting money from the operators.

Those who failed to give him money were threatened with arrest.