Police are investigating the death of a 30-year-old woman after a post-mortem showed she was shot in the neck in Kamukunji, Nairobi, possibly by a police bullet.

Police had earlier thought the food vendor Jackline Mugure Maina was stabbed, leading to her death last Thursday.

She was riding in a tuk-tuk.

An autopsy showed she died of blood loss after a bullet entered her neck.

The bullet seemed to have been fired from a higher trajectory and was stuck in the backbone, the autopsy report showed.

A senior police officer termed the shooting accidental and said they are investigating how and why it happened.

Nairobi police boss Rashid Yakub said they will ensure justice is done and said, “We are open to any probe into this unfortunate incident.”

Mugure was in a tuk-tuk in the afternoon when she was hit by a bullet believed to have been fired by police chasing muggers on a rampage.

Plainclothes police were pursuing muggers who were attacking and robbing pedestrians when the woman was shot. Witnesses said when Mugure was shot, the tuk-tuk stopped and she alighted, bleeding.

She too thought she had been cut or stabbed. She collapsed after a short while and was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident sparked brief running battles between protesting hawkers and police.

They accused police of being trigger-happy and said guns should not be fired recklessly and not in busy places during rush hours. Police dispersed the crowd and took the body to City Mortuary for an autopsy.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority is investigating.

Spokesman Dennis Okech said the probe file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. Sections of downtown Nairobi have been experiencing a crime wave due to an invasion of muggers.

-The Star/Cyrus Ombati