Witnesses narrate ordeal as police probe armed robbery at salon in Ruaka

The Friday afternoon incident left residents in shock, with questions lingering on how armed gangsters have taken over streets, terrorising Kenyans and escaping the police dragnet.

A CCTV footage in Ruaka captures two salon employees chatting outside their work premises.

Suddenly, a robber armed with a pistol emerges and tries to grab the phone of one of the ladies.

She quickly hides the phone behind her back before the robber attacks her. He first hits her with the pistol before using blows to make her surrender her phone.

All this time, the two ladies are heard screaming, asking for help.

The criminal turns when he notices a crowd charging towards him. He fires, and everyone scampers for safety.

The two ladies use the opportunity to escape. He follows the target inside the salon. Inside, the CCTV captures him violently attacking the lady, at one point pulling at her clothes, before he leaves with the phone—a Samsung S24 Ultra worth over Ksh.100,000.

The gangster shoots to keep off the crowd gathering before boarding a waiting motorbike. The whole operation took less than a minute.

"He didn't steal anything else because if he were an ordinary thief, when he entered here—my colleagues were inside with clients—he would have taken their phones as well. But he didn't take theirs; he only took the girl's phone,” says Bridgit Amase, a witness.

The incident, which was reported at Ruaka Police Station, has caused fear and anxiety among business operators in the area.

"That incident is ruining our business. For someone like me, I would like the government to deal with this matter so that this person is arrested, because if it continues like this and this person isn't caught, it will really affect us, and for some of us, everything like our daily life depends on it,” Amase added.

Seven kilometres from Ruaka, at Runda Mall, another family is still in shock after robbers took away their Ksh.1.95 million from inside their car.

The family claims they had withdrawn the cash from a bank in Industrial Area before stopping at Runda Mall to purchase a few items, when robbers, believed to have trailed them, broke into the car on Thursday and took off with the cash.

CCTV footage showed a woman who was part of the gang following them closely and later joining her accomplices after they stole the cash.

"Honestly, it has really set us back because we had plans to do construction; it's like they have cut off our hand.”

The couple, who have reported the case at Runda Police Station, say the incident raises serious security concerns for business operators.

"It has affected us a lot because sometimes you even feel like you're not safe when doing your work, you wonder if you will be followed again."

These two incidents come just a week after Citizen TV highlighted another robbery caught on camera at Chaiiwali cafe. Police are still pursuing the suspects.