Three police officers were injured on Friday evening following a dramatic robbery incident and confrontation with a hostile crowd in Nairobi’s Mathare area.
Police said the incident occurred on April 3, 2026, at around 5:30 p.m. along Juja Road when officers on patrol spotted a man being cornered by three men, one of whom was armed with a knife.
The victim, a resident of Eastleigh, had reportedly just been robbed of his Samsung A50 mobile phone prompting a police action.
Upon noticing the officers, the suspects fled towards Mathare slums, prompting a chase that led to the arrest of one suspect at the Kampala Ndogo area, while two others managed to escape.
However, as officers escorted the suspect out of the area, they were confronted by a group of rowdy men who began pelting them with stones in an apparent attempt to free the suspect, police said.
The officers, who sustained multiple injuries in the attack, were briefly overwhelmed, allowing the suspect to escape. In the chaos, officers fired two shots in the air to disperse the crowd before retreating to safety.
They later regrouped with reinforcement teams and were rushed to Ngara Complex Hospital for treatment.
In a related development, medical personnel at MSF Hospital reported that a 32-year-old man had been admitted with a gunshot wound to the thigh and was receiving treatment.
The officers who were attacked were forced to shoot to the air for their own safety in the drama.
It is believed the victim was shot and wounded in the chaos on Friday.
Police have since deployed additional officers to comb the area, but no arrests have been made so far. Another team has been dispatched to the hospital as investigations continue into the incident.
Police said they are hunting for the suspects who escaped the scene.
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