A Utah couple narrowly escaped an armed robbery attempt when they came upon a group of bandits equipped with machetes on a dusty road outside of Nairobi, Kenya last week.
Bryant Swenson and his wife Lauren—who moved to Nairobi with their three children to open a CrossFit gym, according to The Sun—were driving through Mai Mahiu en route to Kijabe when they caught the terrifying encounter on camera.
“We came upon three bandits robbing a matatu. I had to back up long enough to roll my window up before passing by the guy wielding the ponga (machete),” Swenson wrote in a Facebook post. “The guy on the far left had a handgun but couldn’t get it out of his waistbelt in time.”
“They chose this spot for ambush because the road is very rough but fortunately we were in my 80 series. Also thankful for a manual transmission…” he added, referring to his Toyota Land Cruiser.
Swenson said they passed a pair of police officers on foot before they encountered the gang and that the gunfire toward the end of the video was “the cops engaging.”
“We are thankful to have been gone before the gun battle erupted,” Swenson concluded. “Thankful for the Lord’s protection.”