On 21 November 2018, Nairobi governor Mike Sonko publicly praised police after four suspected gang members were shot dead in Baraka area of Mowlem, Dandora, following a robbery that had been captured on CCTV at an M-Pesa shop.
The suspects had been linked to an armed gang that Sonko had warned days earlier after the video spread online. He had given the group seven days to surrender their guns and stop attacking Nairobi residents, but the warning was not heeded.
Police sources said the men had been on the run for some time. The alleged ringleader was identified only as Mutuku, alongside accomplices accused of terrorising people in several parts of the city, including Mukuru, Kitengela, Kayole, Buruburu, Kasarani, Ruiru and Thika.
The four were reportedly shot dead by Ahmed Rashid, who is popularly known as Hessy. Sonko later said he would reward the officers with Sh500,000 for what he described as a good job.
In a statement shared on Tuesday afternoon, Sonko said he had posted the robbery video on 8 November at 4.51am and repeated his warning on 10 November while attending a fundraising in Matopeni, Kayole, for Harrison Kinyanjui Karanja, who had been shot and seriously injured.
He said some members of the gang had complied with the order to surrender, but those who ignored it and were caught on CCTV robbing traders at gunpoint had received “the good price they got.” Sonko added that the police deserved the Sh500,000 reward and urged them to continue protecting “innocent hard working Nairobians.”
The article also embedded a Facebook video from Governor Mike Sonko Mbuvi showing the remarks and the response to the killings.
