Nairobi woman shot after husband’s gun goes off in bag

Police Car

A 50-year-old woman is admitted to a hospital in Nairobi after she was shot and seriously wounded in the leg in what police say was an accidental discharge.

The woman is the wife of a businessman who is a licensed firearm holder.

The incident occurred on Sunday morning at their residence in Riara Apartment off Ngong Road.

The man told police he had arrived home and called his wife to help him carry three bags into the house. One of the bags contained a Beretta pistol loaded with 15 bullets.

Unaware of the contents, the woman picked up the bags and placed them on the ground in the parking lot.

Police said the bag may have been placed down with force, triggering the firearm to discharge.

The man reported that while still at the parking lot, he heard a gunshot and immediately sensed something was wrong.

He rushed to the scene and found his wife bleeding from her right leg.

He took her to the hospital, where she was admitted and is in stable condition.

Police said the firearm discharged from inside one of the bags after it was placed on the ground. The bullet struck a wall and ricocheted, hitting the woman in the leg.

Investigators noted that the pistol’s safety catch had been left open, which likely led to the unintended firing. The bag was torn at the time of the shooting.

Officers visited both the hospital and the scene of the incident as part of their investigation.

The firearm was seized from the husband and retained as an exhibit in the ongoing probe.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, detectives are investigating claims by a businessman who reported losing his firearm under unclear circumstances in Nyali, Mombasa County.

The man, also a licensed firearm holder, told police he had locked his Glock pistol with two magazines carrying 15 bullets each in a safe on May 13. However, he discovered the weapon missing on June 2 when he went to retrieve it.

He said he had not checked on the weapon since the day he secured it.

The businessman told officers he was preparing to travel to Samburu and had gone to pick up the firearm when he realised it was missing.

Police visited the scene and launched a probe into the matter.

There are more than 15,000 licensed gun holders in Kenya. Applicants undergo a rigorous vetting process before being granted a firearm license.