Police gun down two suspects in carjacking ordeal in Nairobi.

By Samuel Ouma

Police on Sunday night shot dead two thugs in a botched carjacking in Nairobi’s Kilimani areas.

 Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), in a statement on Monday, said the duo, armed with a Russian-made pistol and two other handguns,  subdued a taxi driver and his client at Kilimani's Chania Avenue, before robbing them of their mobile phones and taking over their Toyota Vitz.

DCI detectives who responded to a distress call by the victims blocked the robbers as they attempted to escape. They were ordered to surrender, but they started shooting at the officers as they tried to flee on foot.

The police officers responded with quick shots, killing the robbers.

Four mobile phones, including the two stolen from the victims, were recovered alongside three guns with six unspent rounds.

The incident comes amid a surge in robbery and mugging cases in Nairobi Central Business District and its environs.

DCI boss George Kinoti had appealed to public members to report mugging cases to the police instead of sharing such cases on social media.

Kinoti said sharing mugging cases on social media is good for sensitization but encouraged public members to file formal complaints to help the police and the prosecution build water-tight cases against perpetrators once arrests are made.

"Many are scenarios when suspected muggers go scot-free even after they have been arrested along various Streets and Walks within the CBD, as the few who report at the station fail to pursue their cases or never turn up for hearings," said the DCI boss.