National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) employee Lilian Waithera asked her colleague she was walking with to call an ambulance moments after a bullet hit her along Kaunda Street on Monday, February 13.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, February 16, Damaris Achieng’ indicated that the deceased held her chest as she uttered ‘nimeumia‘ (I am hurt) before collapsing to the ground.
After her fall, two men joined them to inquire about what had happened. Achieng’ then called medics – who later took the deceased to a city-based hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Waithera’s colleague detailed that they were in the CBD heading home, having used public transportation to town.
“Lilian and I were walking side by side. She just stopped and asked me to call for her an ambulance, then fell. I did not hear any gunshots,” she stated.
“We had some say that she had been hit and that her colleague should call an ambulance for her. That was around 5.30 pm. I remember we were about to close the shop. When I went to check I saw her bleeding,” an eyewitness echoed.
Police, on the other hand, cordoned off the street for the better part of February 17 as they sought to establish the origin of the bullet that was found in her lungs.
According to the police, they were working on two theories given the mystery of the bullet amid unconfirmed reports of the involvement of a potential sniper.
Officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) visited adjacent buildings and retrieved CCTV to establish the movements of the deceased and those surrounding her.
Nairobi Regional Police Commander Adamson Bungei noted that the bullet came from an elevated angle, with two buildings along the street being the centre stage of the investigations.
“Waithera was fired by someone who was on top of one of the buildings,” Bungei alluded.
He intimated that they would use the blood spot and trajectory of the bullet to tell where the shot was fired.
“Two theories that we are pursuing are either a possible murder or where a gun holder recklessly dislodges a bullet from an elevated angle and accidentally lands on an innocent person,’’ a detective intimated to Nation.
The police have yet to issue a conclusive report on their findings, even as Waithera’s husband, Paul Mbogo, stated that the NHIF employee had not claimed her life was in danger.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE