Shock as pathologist discovers bullet in NHIF woman who collapsed, died in Nairobi city centre

A woman who collapsed and died in Nairobi's city centre on Monday evening had been shot moments earlier, a post-mortem has revealed.

According to the police, Lilian Waithera, 46, who worked at the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), collapsed and died on Kaunda Street, Nairobi.

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

She then collapsed and stopped breathing.

Her colleagues who were with her called an ambulance, which arrived quickly, 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 she collapsed.

On Monday, Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei said officers are investigating the incident.

Her family on Tuesday transferred her body to the Kenyatta University Mortuary, where a post-mortem showed the cause of death to be shooting, after a bullet was found lodged in the lungs.

“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,” police said in a follow up report on Tuesday.

“The bullet entered through the collar bone, having been fired from an elevated angle,” police added.

The bullet head has since been handed over to the police for ballistic examination.

Police have opened a file and handed over the case to detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for further investigations.