A video has captured the tense moment when a police officer's rifle jammed during an operation to arrest a suspect at a hideout. In footage seen by TNX Africa, several plainclothes officers storm a residence at an undisclosed location where the suspect appears to have been hiding. One officer, holding handcuffs, drags the man, who is dressed in blue, out of the house before forcing him to the ground.
As officers shout instructions ordering the suspect to remain face down, another officer armed with a rifle attempts to chamber a round by pulling back the charging handle. The weapon, an AK47 from its looks, appears to jam, triggering a frantic effort to clear the stoppage as the arrest continues. A video recording shows un-uniformed police officers retrieving a suspect from a hiding place.
Two officers pin him down and one is spotted handling a gun ready to fire. Pic. twitter.
com/FceoGBhoOl For a brief moment, the suspect is left unattended while voices from a gathering crowd can be heard in the background. The officer repeatedly works the rifle's charging handle while keeping the muzzle pointed downward in an attempt to fix the malfunction. After several attempts, he successfully clears the stoppage, chambers a round and fires several shots into the air as fellow officers move in to secure the suspect.
The clip then wraps up abruptly. TNX Africa could not independently verify where the incident occurred, who the suspect was, or what prompted the operation. The footage has since sparked debate online, with many questioning both the apparent weapon malfunction and the officer's response.
"That police officer wasted more than three rounds of ammunition for no big threat at all. Secondly, he took so long to cock his rifle, hence risking others'lives," One user wrote on X. "Seeing the gun jam in that moment makes the whole arrest look even more tense than it already was," Another added.
The incident comes weeks after another dramatic police operation in Nakuru, where an officer was filmed opening fire at a suspected stolen vehicle after its driver allegedly ignored orders to stop along the busy Nairobi-Nakuru highway. The vehicle sped off despite the gunfire, sending pedestrians and motorists scrambling for safety. Authorities later stated the vehicle had reportedly been flagged as stolen and that the suspects were eventually tracked down and apprehended, although police did not immediately issue an official statement following the shooting.