How i escaped death at the mall

For the 26-year-old Kelvin Muasya,
the dark events of the Westgate
Shopping Mall attack will remain
etched in his mind forever. The M-
Kopa Solar, a renewable energy
firm in the city, head of finance and
procurement is among the lucky
Kenyans, who came face to face
with death, but survived under
miraculous circumstances.
Muasya survived two gun shots to
his head by one of the now
believed to be four ruthless
attackers allied to Al Shabaab who
stormed the mall. In an interview
with People Daily, Muasya said he
was to attend the Safaricom Rugby
Sevens tournament in the city later
that evening.
“I had earlier met a colleague. All
was calm and well and shoppers
were going about their activities
normally,” he said. He was about to
purchase tickets for the tournament
from one of the retail outlets at the
mall, when all hell broke loose with
rapid gunfire all over.
Muasya like other shoppers, rushed
to hide at any available corners. At
first, he thought the gunshots were
from a robbery attempt at the near
Barclays Bank. He, therefore, run
towards Dorman’s restaurant to
seek refuge. After continuous heavy
gunfire, he realised it was not a
normal robbery.
“I knew it was not an ordinary
crime,” recalls Muasya. The reality
of what awaited him would soon
follow when a gunman walked
towards his hide-out. “I could hear
the tap of his footsteps, as he came
towards my direction. I knew this
is it.
I knew he would kill me,” recalls
Musya with a tinge of disbelief. As
the attacker drew nearer, Muasya
braved the fear of facing his
potential killer and turned up to
look at him, it is the brave decision
to face his attacker that would save
his life. As he looked up to get a
glimpse of the attacker, the
gunman aimed for his head and
shot twice at him. He walked away
believing he had killed him.
But the gunman had missed his
head. A bullet however tore into
his ear and bruised his skull. A
second bullet also missed Muasya’s
head but injured his arm. With
blood now gushing from his ear and
shoulder, he became unconscious.
An hour later, bodies were strewn
all over near where he lay.
The gunmen had shot dead many
people. A man with his young son
asked him to keep silent not to
attract the attention of the gunmen,
who were still roaming the mall
and killing anyone alive on site,
aware of the stark danger, he
played dead.
After about another hour, he came
round again only to find that this
time, the good Samaritan who had
warned him to keep silent and his
son had been killed. Muasya would
eventually be saved by Kenya
Defence Forces personnel.

upus