( CNN ) -- Three Kenyan police officers have been suspended , authorities said Friday , after photos allegedly showed them shooting three unarmed men on a busy street in central Nairobi . Kenya 's largest newspaper , the Daily Nation , published the photos Thursday . It said they were taken by a motorist at the scene of the shooting in the capital . The first photo shows a man described by the paper as an undercover officer pointing a gun at two men lying face down on the highway . Another one shows the two men riddled with bullets lying in the middle of the road . A third shooting apparently took place , the paper said . A police spokesman confirmed that three men were killed , and three officers have been suspended pending an investigation . `` They ( officers ) are very much innocent until declared guilty , let 's not forget that , '' Eric Kiraithe said by phone from Nairobi . `` We are conducting an investigation and will have the results soon . '' Kiraithe said the victims have criminal records , and one injured a police officer in a shooting last week . `` That said , they have their rights as human beings , of course , so it does not justify their deaths , '' he said . The killings sparked condemnation nationwide , with human rights groups renewing calls for reform in the Kenyan police . The trio was compliant and had already surrendered , Amnesty International said in a news release . A 2009 U.N. report accused Kenyan police of misusing its power , and called for the removal of the nation 's police commissioner at the time . `` Killings by the police in Kenya are systematic , widespread and carefully planned . They are committed at will and with utter impunity , '' U.N. Special Rapporteur Philip Alston said in a statement . The Kenyan government said it rejected the findings .
Three police officers are suspended in the killings . The three were among a group of six people who had been arrested for allegedly stealing from an auto parts store on April 11. A 2009 U.N. report accused Kenyan police of misusing its power .