Man Arrested Over Killing Of NHIF Employee In City Released After Ballistics Exonerates Gun – Eagle News Feed
National Hospital Insurance Fund employee Mary Waithera Gathenya
A man who had been arrested by police in the probe into the fatal shooting of a female National Hospital Insurance Fund employee on Kaunda Street, Nairobi has been released.
Julius Kariuki Mwangi who is a licensed gun holder got back his pistol with 15 bullets after ballistic tests on it came out negative.
The preliminary tests conducted on the pistol on Monday night suggested it was not involved in the shooting on February 13.
The tests compare recovered cartridges and bullets with the weapon believed to have been used.
The developments threw the detectives handling the case to the drawing back.
They said they are optimistic to find the person who triggered the bullet that fell Mary Waithera Gathenya, 46 as she walked home after a day’s work.
Police say they believe the killer bullet was a stray one probably accidentally discharged from a rifle.
The licensed firearm holder was Monday arrested over the fatal shooting after he was traced to his home in Kenol, Murang’a where he has been in the past week.
He denied shooting the killer bullet that hit Gathenya on February 13 as she walked home.
He told police he was in the CBD on that day and was carrying his pistol but he never fired.
Police suspect the person who fired, discharged the gun by mistake and the killer’s bullet came down hitting Gathenya in the collar borne.
Initially, police and pedestrians had thought Gathenya, 46 collapsed and died out of natural causes but an autopsy done on the body realized a bullet lodged in her lungs.
The bullet had been fired from an elevated angle and went into the body through the collar borne before stopping in the lungs.
Blood was oozing from his mouth after she collapsed seeking help.
She told those close to her something had hit her.
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.
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 gunfire at that time but police said there were bloodstains at the scene.
Police have ruled out the work of an assassin as the cause of the incident.
