A vehicle driven by lawyer Kyalo Mbobu, after he was shot in Karen, is parked in the Nairobi Area on September 10, 2025.
A politician and two other people have been arrested in connection with the murder of city lawyer Mathew Kyalo Mbobu.
The senior lawyer, who was also the former head of a political parties’ dispute tribunal, was killed in Nairobi on Tuesday in a drive-by shooting.
He was driving home when a gunman, on a motorcycle, pulled alongside his vehicle and opened fire.
A vehicle driven by lawyer Kyalo Mbobu, after he was shot in Karen, is parked in the Nairobi Area on September 10, 2025.
Friday morning, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested three people they said were persons of interest.
They are said to have been among the last people to interact with the lawyer hours before he was fatally shot.
Mr Mbobu had held a meeting at Sagret Hotel in Nairobi earlier.
The trio was picked up and taken for questioning at the Nairobi Area Police Station, which houses the Homicide Investigation Bureau.
They were later held in different police stations. We cannot reveal the identities of the trio as investigators are yet to release their names.
The politician was held at Kileleshwa Police Station, while one of the other individuals was moved to Capitol Hill Police Station. At the time of going to press, it was unclear where the third individual was being held.
All three persons of interest had interactions with Mr Mbobu, while some lived in Karen, where his home was.
Lawyer Kyalo Mbobu.
One of them, a family member of the slain lawyer, revealed that he would go jogging with him regularly.
In his statement to the police, the politician said he did not know Mr Mbobu before their meeting on Tuesday.
The politician’s lawyer said he has not yet been informed which murder he is under investigation for, which would officially confirm that he has been linked to Mr Mbobu’s death.
The police confiscated cash found in the politician’s home, but his lawyer, Musa Maulid, maintains that it is legitimate income.
“On the issues of homicide, we have not been informed if that is what my client is being charged with. This is just a broad investigation by the authorities.
"Once they narrow down on what exactly they are investigating, they will tell us,” the lawyer said in an interview at the Kileleshwa police station, where his client had been locked up yesterday.
Nakuru-based lawyers hold a peaceful protest along Kenyatta Avenue, demanding justice for murdered lawyer Mathew Mbobu.
“The police have their processes of verifying monies, whether they are legitimate monies and they will undertake those processes. It’s not new to any homicide issue and once they are done with it, I’m sure the money will be released to its rightful owner,” Mr Maulid said.
Mr Maulid added that there are several persons of interest, not just his client, and that the money found in the politician’s house will be released after its source is verified as legitimate.
“As I told you, there are many people who are part of that investigation. So as far as we are concerned, he is just a person of interest. We have been told it’s a homicide investigation, we don’t know which homicide investigation. We are waiting for the right documents to be availed,” the lawyer added.
Lawyer Kyalo Mbobu was brutally shot dead by two assailants on a motorbike in an attack that detectives have ruled out as a robbery. The well-planned attack, which involved eight gunshots, suggests that it was a premeditated assassination.
Mr Mbobu was attacked by two men on a motorcycle along Magadi road on Tuesday evening, as he drove to his Karen home.
One of the men shot the lawyer eight times. A police source privy to the investigation said forensic analysis of Mr Mbobu’s mobile phone is still ongoing. In the preliminary stage, the analysis led to the arrest of the three persons of interest.
Detectives are looking into two other persons of interest based on findings from the phone – a woman he had frequent phone calls with, and a man Mr Mbobu spoke with for approximately 10 minutes on the day of his murder.
The DCI is yet to publicly issue an update on the investigations so far. A team of detectives, led by Nairobi Region DCI boss Benson Kasyoki, is leading an investigation into the murder.
They handed Mbobu’s phone to the forensics department, where officers retrieved data showing the people he last interacted with and where he spent the day, aside from his Town House office.
The phone analysis helped detectives identify the three individuals currently in custody.
On Wednesday, the DCI appealed to the public to share any information they may have on the incident, which could aid in its probe.
Lawyer Kyalo Mbobu in court.
“The DCI is committed to ensuring the perpetrators of this heinous act are brought to justice. Our investigators are working diligently, employing all available resources and expertise to piece together the events surrounding this incident,” DCI boss Mohamed Amin said in a statement.
On Thursday, Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen said investigators had a long list of persons of interest.
The DCI Homicide Bureau visited the scene on Wednesday with their colleagues from the National Forensic Laboratory to collect evidence as other officers started looking into various aspects of Mr Mbobu’s life to determine if anyone had a motive to kill the man who had practised law for 38 years.
Mr Mbobu will be buried on September 17 – exactly one week after the murder. His family will hold two meetings at the All Saints Cathedral, on Friday evening and next Monday, in preparation for the interment.
