Four men robbed a bank at gunpoint, but it wasn’t until police arrived that the real action started. The robbers fired shots and hollered for help from terrified onlookers as they tried to break down doors in order be inside before being captured by law enforcement officers waiting outside of Equity Bank’s Ang’awa branch Thursday 11am. In less than two hours time, four would-be criminals were dead or injured after exchanging gunfire with cops who stormed into this building housing an unsuspecting crowd watching their drama unfold live stream online over social media feeds such has Facebook Live.
The Nyanza Regional Commissioner says police are still investigating whether or not money was stolen during the raid. They also don’t know if any of it came out with tear gas, but what is for certain is that some guy changed his shirt right before he escaped while everyone else scrambled for safety in confusion.
“We have in our possession a man’s shirt. We suspect they had a change of clothes and left the banking hall during the evacuation of clients. We’ll conduct further investigations and question some of the people we arrested as they attempted to flee the scene,” said Mr Mutindika.
“We want to do a thorough search and appropriate action will be taken against any person who will be found to have been involved in this particular act,” he added.
He said a multi-agency team will analyse the CCTV footage to establish the people who got into the bank as from 9am.
“We want to give the police the adequate time to make sure that they unravel the truth of the matter. From the footage, we will be able to know those who were involved in the attempted bank robbery,” said Mr Mutindika.
The daycare workers were trapped inside the bank, but eventually police saved them. After an intense gunfight with robbers who had taken over two floors of the building and held innocent people hostage for several hours, officers moved up to reach their target -the ones shooting at citizens below! One eye witness said “things happened so fast” that he didn’t even have time to take cover during this crisis situation
At some stage last Wednesday morning (16th April) Kenyan Police forces under regional commander Karanja Muiruris command deployed using two ladders in order gain height advantage over those nearby while fighting ensues; colleagues from fire department also assisting where nearby rescue teams tried hard save survivors trapped within bullet riddled ground floor areas after shots continued ringing.
“I escaped very fast. When we were outside I heard the bank was under attack and then police arrived,” he Otieno.
This is the second time a robbery is being attempted at the same branch.
In October 2015, a suspect was shot dead while five others were arrested in a botched raid.
The customers noticed suspicious characters in the bank and alerted officers. Police responded, recovered a paper bag with cash that had been collected from one of their safe’s break-ins; they also found an iron bar used by this robber to threaten employees while pretending it was gun – all because he wanted more money!
