- A team of police that visited the scene collected six spent cartridges and interrogated witnesses.
- The getaway car had trailed the truck from the city centre, the witnesses said.
Image: THE STAR
A garbage truck driver was Thursday night shot and killed in cold blood as he waited for his lorry to be filled with litter along Thika Road.
The driver identified by his colleagues only as Maina was driving a lorry contracted to collect litter on Thika Highway when the incident happened at about 10pm.
The road is maintained by Kenya National Highways Authority.
However a KeNHA official Samuel Kumba said they had not directly contracted the driver.
He said they gave Dalab Construction Limited the Performance Based Maintenance work for the Nairobi-Thika/Nairobi-Ruiru section who later subcontracted the truck in question.
Police and witnesses said the victim was shot at least six times by a gunman who was armed with an AK47 rifle.
Maina had driven the lorry up to the Utalii tunnel and parked it there waiting for the collected litter to be filled when a salon car pulled behind his truck.
Witnesses said one gunman jumped out and walked to where the driver was and shot him six times before he ran back to the car and drove off.
The other about six men who were loading the garbage were not injured in the attack.
A team of police that visited the scene collected six spent cartridges and interrogated the other attendants who said they had picked garbage from the city centre and were headed towards Kasarani direction.
The getaway car had also trailed the truck from the city centre, the witnesses said.
Starehe police boss William Sirengo said they are yet to establish the motive of the attack.
Police who took the body to the mortuary said it seems the intention of the gang was to eliminate the deceased.
A team of detectives is investigating the matter.
Elsewhere, a boda boda rider was shot and injured before being robbed of Sh170,000 in Nairobi’s Kayole area.
The victim had been given the cash from a local supermarket to bank the same when he was ambushed by two men riding on a motorcycle few meters from the bank.
He was shot in the leg and hand by one of the men before they grabbed the cash and sped off in the 1pm incident.
Police say they are yet to get the gunmen and believe they had prior information about the cash.
Meanwhile, a 27-year-old man was last evening arrested over the stabbing and killing of his sister following a domestic dispute in Makongeni, Nairobi.
The suspect identified as Patrick Mutunga is alleged to have used a kitchen knife to kill Sylvia Kamene after an argument in their house.
He was arrested hours later and the killer weapon recovered. Police say they are yet to know the motive of the incident and have launched investigations.
In Shauri Moyo, the body of an unidentified man was found on the roadside after a suspected murder. Police said the man seems to have been killed elsewhere and the body dumped at the scene.