The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has apprehended a 26-year-old suspect over the killing of a U.S. national during a robbery in Garissa.
The arrest was confirmed by Garissa County DCI officers, when they picked up the man, who is the main suspect in the fatal robbery and stabbing of a U.S. national of Somali descent.
“Detectives drawn from DCI Garissa have arrested 26-year-old Muhiyadin Abdi Sheikh, the main suspect in the fatal robbery and stabbing of US national Osman Aweys Abdi in Garissa,” DCI said in a statement.
Reports indicate that the incident happened on May 28, when the victim was attacked near Abubeida School in Bulla Mzuri, about 5km north of Iftin Police Station.
The U.S. national is reported to have been stabbed in the left thigh and hit on the left side of the head with a blunt object, before his mobile phone was stolen.
A well-wisher who got his number from the victim alerted the U.S. national’s brother, who rushed to the scene and found him in pain.
The brother took him straight to Antalya Hospital, but the U.S. national was pronounced dead on arrival, and his body was later moved to Garissa County Teaching and Referral Hospital for a postmortem.
As DCI detectives began investigating his death, the suspect went into hiding, which pushed the Garissa team to launch an intelligence-led operation to find him.
After several months of pursuit, the detectives traced him to a hideout in Kabete, Nairobi, where he was finally arrested.
The suspect is now held in police custody awaiting to be arraigned in court.
