The three were shot dead by men who rode in two cars in a 9pm incident that the National Police Service (NPS) said it was still investigating.
The killings come in the wake of a national outcry over police officers suspected of involvement in extrajudicial killings, abductions and enforced disappearances.
“We have now unearthed crucial details about the three Mutoho victims including their names and where they stayed.
"After their next of kin came forward to identify the bodies we can now reveal that the victims were Francis Maingi Mwaura, 39, Michael Kimando Maina, 36, and Kennedy Mwaura Mwangi, 27,” Murang'a South DCI boss John Kanda on Friday said.
He added that all were residents of Kiandutu Estate on the outskirts of Thika town in Kiambu “and coincidentally, all were wanted men by security for their criminal characters”.
“We have assembled crucial evidence that all had several robbery with violence and grievous harm cases and on the material day when they met their deaths, were on a mission to commit felonies,” said Mr Kanda.
He appeared to blame the Judiciary for the trio’s death saying it had them in custody but released them on suspicious or lenient terms.
“The 39-year-old victim had previously been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by a Murang’a court for robbery conviction but was suspiciously out and even at it, he had gone ahead and committed another robbery and rape and was out on bond by a Kenol court,” said Mr Kanda.
Asked whether it is known who gunned them down, Mr Kanda said, “That is what we are now investigating and we have since released the bodies to their kin to continue with their respective post-mortem and burial arrangements as we try to piece together clues on who murdered them”.
Patricia Wairimu said Kimando was her son “and police are lying because my son was a mason and a boda boda hustler with no criminal record”.
She said: “Police have a habit of murdering people and releasing criminal records drawn from fiction as justification for sending families to grief.”
Jacinta Wanjiku said she lost a husband (Kimando) and a brother (Kennedy). “I squarely blame the police for rendering three women widows and seven children fatherless in this senseless shooting injustice,” she said.
Mr Maingi’s family spokesman James Kirimi said: “The three were going to Murang’a to visit friends when they met their death and all clues indicate that police officers shot them dead despite evidence that they posed no danger and could have easily been arrested.
A source in the county’s security, who spoke in confidence as he is not authorised to reveal operational information, said the shootings were sanctioned to “wipe out dangerous criminals” who police believed were well-connected in the justice system. He alleged three were a threat to security due to their suspected criminal activities.
Their bullet-riddled bodies were collected 10 hours later by the local police, who insisted that they did not know how it happened and took them to Murang’a Level Five Hospital mortuary.
An initial police communication indicated that “the three suspects were connected to a spate of robberies in the area and its environs had been trailed from Thika town”.
The communication added that a gunfight ensued at Mutoho village, leading to the three being shot and a pistol loaded with 12 bullets recovered.
But the Murang’a South security committee retracted the police communication, denying any knowledge of the victims and how they met their deaths.
Mr Kanda said: “Among the items we found at the scene was an imitation of a firearm that had no firing ability...we took it as an exhibit.”
He said: “What I know is that we were called by villagers who said that there were three unknown bodies at Mutoho. We went and removed them to the mortuary. I don’t have further details since it is an incident under investigation.”
However, some of the residents who spoke to Saturday Nation narrated how they witnessed the three being shot dead.
“The three men were in one car. The car stopped at Mutoho village along Kenol-Murang’a road. The three came out of the car and two other cars arrived almost immediately and there was a brief exchange of gunfire,” said Martin Kamau, who also alluded to a setup.
He added that the men who shot them were not in uniform but conducted themselves like police officers with “the confidence, the precision and the marksmanship involved".
He said one of the three men who ended up being gunned down had briefly brandished what looked like a firearm as he attempted to run away.
“After the guns went silent, the assailants collected what looked like a small firearm from the three, rolled over the bodies from the road to a bushy road reserve, boarded their two vehicles and left the scene. The car in which the deceased was riding had left the scene immediately after the other two vehicles arrived,” he said.
Mr Kanda said the eye-witness narration is among the several theories being investigated "including another version where it is said the three were riding on a motorcycle when they met their death".
Last Sunday, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said that security organs, especially the DCI, were being used by influential individuals to settle scores and engage in illegal activities.
However, Mr Kanda said the shootings at Mutoho were strange to area security.
"We currently don't have any clue about what happened. We also suspect the bodies were killed elsewhere and dumped in our area. Sincerely we are in the darkness but we are investigating," he said.
