Millionaire George Maina was among seven robbery suspects killed in Industrial Area on Sunday night.
The police identified Maina as the ringleader of the seven-man gang cleared at the soft drink godown. They said the 32-year-old man was a known criminal and was on their watch list.
Maina owned a lorry and 50 mabati rental houses in Nairobi’s Mukuru kwa Njenga slums.
The officers said Maina was armed with a pistol and was manning the gates as his accomplices stormed the warehouse. All the gang members were shot dead.
Nairobi DCI chief Ireri Kamwende said investigators had yet to establish if Maina had pending criminal cases in court.
The police and witnesses have given conflicting accounts on what happened. A report from Industrial Area police station said officers patrolling Industrial Area were informed of a robbery at the godown. They rushed to the scene and were confronted by a lone gunman.
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The report sent to Vigilance House said the officers shot and killed the gunman and proceeded into the warehouse. They encountered another group of men armed with machetes, axes and toy pistols. The accounts were, however, dismissed by security guards at an adjacent building. They claimed to have witnessed the incident.
The guards said five armed plainclothes officers, who seem to have had prior information about a planned robbery, were deployed to the godown well before 8pm.
"As soon as the gang stormed in, the officers pounced on them and shot them," one watchman said.
The guard claimed the other men were rounded up in a corner and shot while lying down. The other suspects were identified as Kyalo, Michael and Yohana Karanja. Three others were yet to be identified by last evening.
Investigators took their fingerprints to help in identification. The bodies were ferried to City Mortuary. They had multiple gunshot wounds and might have been shot from the back, indicating they were fleeing or lying face down.
The officers said Maina owned the lorry they found at the yard of Softa godowns. It was to be used to ferry stolen goods, they added.