Police shot dead three robbery suspects at a petrol station on Kenyatta Avenue in Nairobi on Thursday night, in what witnesses claimed was an execution.
But Nairobi police commander Japheth Koome said the three were armed and had robbed a couple along Chania Road.
The men were shot dead at the Shell petrol station opposite the General Post Office.
Witnesses who asked to remain anonymous said the three men were unarmed civilians who were fuelling their car.
“The three were fuelling their car when a vehicle with police officers pulled up behind them. They were ordered to come out of their car and lie on the ground. The next thing we heard were gunshots,” one of the witness said.
A second witness said the police officers cordoned off the petrol station after shooting the men and searched their car.
“They ordered us to leave the area and not to take pictures. Then one of them started making calls and within minutes more than a dozen unmarked cars surrounded the station,” he said.
“The only gunshots we heard were from the police officers,” a third witness added.
Mr Koome dismissed the claims that the three were unarmed civilians, insisting that they had been on a robbery spree near Yaya Centre.
He said they had waylaid and robbed an American couple and injured the woman.
“Our officers were alerted by the public about a car with three occupants who were robbing people near Yaya Centre,” Mr Koome explained.
He said the suspects were armed with an Ekol Tuna pistol that is not used by the police in Kenya.
“When the car was searched, my officers recovered several items which included American passports, US dollars and several ATM cards belonging to different people,” he said.
Mr Koome said patrols had been intensified around the city to curb crime and terror threats.
“We cannot allow innocent people to be terrorised by a few individuals who want to reap where they did not sow. It will not happen under my watch,” he declared.
