G3 Rifle recovered as suspected robber lynched in Gatuanyaga, Thika

The boy's body was found lying near River Nyangau.[iStockphoto]

A G3 rifle and several rounds of ammunition have been recovered from a suspected robber who was lynched by a mob in Gatuanyaga, Magana, Thika East, Kiambu County, on Thursday evening.

The firearm is believed to be among the weapons stolen alongside an AK-47 rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition from the Maguguni Police Post in October.

Police in Thika East had been conducting an intensive manhunt since the October incident, during which two rifles and ammunition disappeared from the Maguguni Patrol Base under Ngoliba Police Station.

According to eyewitnesses, the suspect had been pretending to be mentally unstable when residents confronted him. Realising he had been identified, he reportedly fired shots in the air to scare them off. He fled, firing three more rounds as the angry crowd pursued him.

Joseph Muigai, a resident who witnessed the entire incident, said the mob cornered the suspect in Magana village as he struggled to reload his weapon.

“He panicked when he saw people closing in. By the time he tried to change the magazine, the crowd had already surrounded him,” Muigai said.

Another resident, Mary Wanjiku, said the community had been living in fear since the rifles were stolen.

“We have had several robberies here in recent weeks, and people suspected someone was hiding a gun. When he started shooting, everyone knew this was the person terrorizing us,” Wanjiku said.

The suspect was stoned to death before he could reload. Police later recovered 76 unused rounds of ammunition stuffed in a polythene sack. The body was taken to the General Kago Funeral Home.

Two months earlier, then Central Regional Police Commander Samuel Ndanyi had visited the scene and termed the October 29 theft a serious security breach.

Ndanyi who has since been transferred to the Rift Valley region said officers noticed the firearms missing after a night-duty corporal returned from patrols and found an iron sheet covering the armoury removed.

Further inspection showed the armoury padlock tampered with and a steel box containing weapons broken into. The stolen items included an AK-47 rifle with two fully loaded magazines (60 rounds), a G3 rifle with one loaded magazine (20 rounds), two empty magazines, and an additional 96 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition.

Senior officers from Thika East and crime scene investigators from Thika West documented the incident. Ndanyi said initial findings indicated no signs of forced entry except the removed iron sheet, believed to be the thieves’ entry point.

“One officer of the rank of Corporal and 72 suspects have already been arrested in connection with the theft as security agencies intensify operations to recover the stolen firearms and ammunition,” Ndanyi said at the time.

He added that the operation would continue until all stolen weapons are recovered and every suspect involved is brought to book.