Man set free in shooting probe

The bullet that killed the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) employee could have been fired from the Jubilee Insurance building in Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD), preliminary investigations reveal.

The probe into the February 13 mysterious shooting has, however, not progressed since detectives have not recovered any cartridge at the scene.

On Monday, detectives arrested a civilian firearm holder but later released him after a ballistic analysis failed to link his firearm to the shooting.

Mary Waithera Gathenya, 46, was shot as she walked home from her Upper Hill offices.

Police say they believe the killer bullet was a stray one probably accidentally discharged from a rifle.

The licensed firearm holder who was arrested but has since been exonerated was traced to his home in Kenol, Murang’a County where he has been in the past week.

He denied involvement and told the detectives he was actually in the CBD on that day and was carrying his rifle but he never fired.

Police suspect the person who fired, discharged the gun by mistake.

The man was disarmed of his rifle and the weapon handed over to the ballistic experts for analysis, which came out negative.

Other police sources said the man has a female friend on Jubilee Insurance Building. Initially, police indicated that Gathenya collapsed and died out of natural causes but an autopsy done on the body revealed a bullet lodged in her lungs.

The bullet had been fired from an elevated angle and went into the body through the  collarbone before stopping in the lungs.

Chest pains

Blood was oozing from her mouth after she collapsed seeking for help. She told those close to her something had hit her.

The body was moved from Nairobi Hospital to Kenyatta University mortuary where the postmortem was conducted by a group of pathologists who declared the cause of death as shooting.

Nairobi Regional Police Commander Adamson Bungei said the bullet head was handed to ballistic experts for analysis.

“We suspect it was a bullet that discharged and came back hitting her but let us hear what experts say,” he said.

Witnesses and police said Gathenya started to complain of chest pain as she walked downtown on February 13 at about 5pm.

She then collapsed and lost her breath. Her colleagues who were with her called an ambulance which arrived minutes later but the responders declared her dead at the scene.

She had walked from her place of work in Upper Hill and was headed home when the incident happened.

Other witnesses said they had heard a gun fire at that time but police said there were blood stains at the scene.