Police arrest robbery suspects as Kisumu residents demand transfer of officers over insecurity

Police in Kisumu have arrested two suspects implicated in robbery with violence cases as a crackdown intensifies against criminal gangs tormenting residents in the city.

The suspects were arrested after a dramatic pursuit following a robbery incident targeting a group of women next to the Kisumu International Airport.

According to the police, the suspects had defied orders to stop, forcing police officers to open fire to disable the vehicle that lost control and rammed an electricity pole.

The two suspects have since been identified by the police as William Onyango Odhiambo and Felix Owino Onyango. The suspects, who were found in the vehicle with a black pistol and three mobile phones, are being detained at the Kisumu Central police station.

In Kisumu, robbery with violence and criminal gang attacks have been on the rise in recent months, even as residents continue to demand action from the law enforcement officers to end insecurity in the County.

Last Saturday,  a Junior Secondary School teacher was gruesomely murdered by armed attackers a few metres from his home in Ahero, Nyando Sub-County in Kisumu County.

According to Nyando Sub-County Police Commander Isiah Moses, the JSS teacher, who has since been identified as Justus Agai, a teacher at Kagimba Primary School in Nyando, was killed by two armed attackers who ambushed him near Ahero interchange at around 9 Pm on Saturday while he was heading to his home.

Members of the clergy from the Nyando region, where the JSS teacher was killed, led by Reverend Father Dickson Odhiambo of the Legio Maria African Church Mission, urged the authorities to go after the perpetrators of murder and other criminal acts who have been terrorising the residents of the County over the past few months.

"As we celebrate Christ the King today, October 25, 2026, Kenyans MUST be told who yesterday brutally killed Mwalimu Justus Agai as he was heading home from his Business Premises near Ahero Interchange in Nyando Constituency," Odhiambo stated.

However, a section of Kisumu residents led by Kisumu Residents Voice Association Chairman Audi Oganda are now demanding the transfer of senior police officers in the region whom they accuse of laxity amid rising cases of insecurity in the County.