Investigations show a pistol that was used in the cold-blooded murder of detective David Mayaka in Kayole, Nairobi had been robbed from an aide to former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya.
The weapon was robbed from the aide identified as Charles Wachira Mahinda during a robbery in 2021, police said Tuesday.
Police said the CZ pistol that fired the fatal shots, which took Detective Mayaka’s life was recovered on Tuesday morning from a slain suspect linked to the murder.
The suspect John Kamau aka Farouk died in a hail of fire after he was cornered by police and defied orders to surrender, opting to shoot at the officers.
The CZ pistol serial number B626735, loaded with 12 rounds of 9mm caliber was recovered.
Preliminary investigations conducted by ballistic experts based at the DCI National Forensic Laboratory have linked the firearm to over five armed robberies staged in Nairobi and Kiambu Counties in the last year.
The robberies targeted M-pesa outlets in the populous residential areas of Kayole, Buru Buru, Dandora, and Dagoretti.
The firearm had been violently robbed from Mahinda in a robbery incident reported on November 17, 2021, in Ngong, Kajiado County.
During the incident, the aide who was a licensed firearm holder was driving into his compound at around 2 am, when he was accosted by a four-man gang armed with an AK-47 assault riffle and crude weapons including metal bars and machetes.
After ransacking the man’s house located at Kerarapon village, the thugs made away with his pistol serial number B626735 and 55 rounds of 9mm calibre from the aide’s safe.
The gang also stole four mobile phones, a mac book, HP computer, and US$3,000. The stolen items have not been recovered.
The Tuesday shooting follows the arrest of one key suspect in the murder, who was apprehended last week in Kikuyu, Kiambu County.
Alex Wanjiru, 23, who was the rider of the motorbike that was used by the thugs on the fateful night was flushed out of his hideout at his grandmother’s compound in Ruthingiti village where he had gone into hiding.
The motorbike, a red Boxer was also impounded.
A manhunt for the third suspect Henry Njihia, who is believed to be armed and dangerous is currently underway, police said.
Mayaka who was based at DCI Makadara was driving home in the company of his wife Kemunto Mayaka on August 8, at around 10 pm when they were accosted by the three-man gang riding on a motorbike.
The officer had stopped his vehicle to change a flat tire when the thugs struck, in a heart-wrenching scene that was captured by CCTV cameras mounted at an adjacent building.