Piece by: CYRUS OMBATI

15 February 2023

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

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

Question marks still surround the death of a junior staff at the National Hospital Insurance Fund on Nairobi streets on Monday.

Initially, police and pedestrians had thought Mary Gathenya, 46 collapsed and died out of natural causes but an autopsy was done and found a bullet lodged in her lungs.

She worked at the registry department, officials said.

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

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

Nairobi regional police commander Adamson Bungei said the bullet head was handed to ballistic experts for analysis.

“We do not know how and why the bullet was fired and by who. We have a team working on the case,” he said.

The NHIF staff collapsed and died along Kaunda Street on Monday evening.

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

She then collapsed and lost her breath. Her colleagues who were with her called an ambulance which arrived in time 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.

Meanwhile, police are investigating the death of a woman whose body was found at a bridge in the Mwiki area, Kasarani.

The woman was identified as Jecinta Akinyi Awuor, 26.

Her husband told police he had sent her for supper and gave her Sh400 for shopping on Monday evening only for him to receive a call several hours later that she was dead.

The man said the woman failed to go home overnight until Tuesday morning when the body was discovered at the scene.

Police who attended the scene said the body did not have any physical injuries at the time. An investigation into the incident is ongoing.