Supermarket cashier shot, robbed in Nairobi

A supermarket employee has been shot and robbed of cash in a dramatic incident within Nairobi's central business district.

Through multiple eye witness accounts and closed circuit television footage, the Nation managed to reconstruct events that led to the brutal shooting of Henry Maina Karanja, the chief cashier at the Ebrahims and Company Supermarket on Kimathi Lane.

"It was a normal day for us. We opened business as usual and cleaned up. At around nine, Mr Maina took the previous day's taking and headed to his employer's bank, Diamond Trust Bank.

"This is what he does every morning. Before the start of business, he always takes the money to the bank," said Joseph Karanja Kamau, a colleague. The time was 9:25 a.m.

After collecting the cash, said to be Sh630,0000, Mr Maina headed out of the supermarket, walked past several shops before making a left turn into Ngoma Lane, which joins Kimathi Lane just behind the Nation Centre. With him was a black bag stashed with the previous day's collections and a colleague who normally accompanies him on such errands.

"Since the bank is just across the street, the morning deliveries are always made on foot and by him," said Mr Karanja.

Three minutes later, at 9:28 a.m., the two supermarket employees are accosted by three men midway through Ngoma Lane.

"I was coming into town minding my own business. I heard someone scream behind me. Then he grabbed the tail ends of my shirt and at my shoulder. My immediate instinct was to run. But when I heard the single gunshot, I went down and stayed there," says eyewitness John Mutisya.

CCTV footage obtained by the Nation shows while in the alley, Mr Maina's colleague, who was accompanying him to the bank, takes a kick to his torso and goes down. As he tries to get up, Mr Maina is accosted by a slim man in a brown shirt and a pair of black trousers.

The slim man, brandishing a pistol, tries to wrestle the bag from him but Mr Maina holds on to it and breaks into a run. As he approaches the exit of the lane, the gunman shoots him in the back of the head. The bullet exits just above his right eye.

However, the burly Mr Maina does not break his run. With the money bag still in his hands he manages to do another five metres before finally collapsing at the entrance of the Nation Centre basement parking.

After the Ebrahim's cashier went down, the gun man picked the bag, re-entered the alley made his way towards Moi Avenue.

"That is when someone ran into the supermarket to tell us that Maina had been shot and was badly injured. Some of our colleagues rushed him to hospital," said Mr Kamau.

The time of the attack took less than 30 seconds. However, it was almost half an hour before police appeared at the crime scene. The nearest police station, Central Police station, is barely 300 metres away.

Supermarket officials say this is the first time such an incidence had happened.

"We do not know why someone would do this. But it appears it is something that had been planned for," Mr Karanja said.

Mr Maina, who was rushed to hospital, later succumbed to his injury.