An autopsy report has revealed that woman who collapsed and died in Nairobi’s city centre on Monday evening was shot.
Lilian Waithera, a 46-year-old employee at the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), was on her way home from work in Upper Hill when she collapsed and died on Kaunda Street.
Witnesses and police said Waithera complained of chest pain before she collapsed at about 5 pm.
Her colleagues called an ambulance but the responders declared her dead at the scene. Her body was taken to the Nairobi Hospital Mortuary.
On Tuesday, however, Waithera’s family transferred her body to the Kenyatta University Mortuary, where a post-mortem showed she died of a gunshot wound.
“The pathologist formed the opinion that the cause of death was as a result of a gunshot wound. A bullet head was found lodged in the lungs of the deceased,” reads the police report under OB number 187/13/2023 at Central Police Station.
The autopsy also established the bullet went through the left collar bone having been fired from an elevated angle.
“The female NHIF staff who collapsed and died along Kaunda Street on Monday evening had been shot from an elevated angle. Autopsy revealed the bullet was lodged in her lungs. The bullet entered through the collar bone, having been fired from an elevated angle,” police said in a follow-up statement on Tuesday.
The bullet head was handed over to the police for ballistic examination.
Nairobi Regional Police Commander Adamson Bungei said the bullet was fired by someone who was on top of one of the buildings.
“The case is now with the ballistic experts who are trying to unravel who fired the shot, from where and what the motive was,” said Bungei.
Notably, witnesses did not report hearing any gunshots in the area when Lilian Waithera collapsed.
