• The gangsters roughed up the shopowner's grandchild to show them where the money was kept
• The victim was riding a motorbike when the robbers started firing in the air
A young man was shot dead and two others injured in a night raid at Gikuru market in Makima, Mbeere South.
Alex Karanja, 22, was killed by a stray bullet when gangsters fired in the air to scare a mob on Wednesday night.
The injured had bullet wounds in the thigh and the upper hip.
Karanja was riding a motorcycle at the time of the incident.
Witnesses told the Star that the gangsters were on three motorcycles.
"They wanted to steal from Ebenezer shop but the owner, an elderly woman, escaped through the backdoor after they entered the shop," a witness who sought anonymity said.
Her grandchild, who was in the shop, was roughed up and ordered to show the gangsters where the money was kept. The thieves took away an undetermined amount of money.
Mbeere South deputy county commissioner Charles Igiha said the shopowner alerted neighbours of the robbery after she escaped.
"The robbers were shooting randomly," Igiha said, adding that the police were hunting for them.
Karanja' body was moved to Embu Level 5 Hospital mortuary.
The injured are being treated in the same hospital.
Edited by R.Wamochie