I heard Osewe tell him... go ahead and shoot me

 Hagon Hotel where popular hotelier William Osewe was shot by close friend Tom Oywa Mboya

It is half past one at Hagon Hotel off the Thika superhighway.

From outside, everything is quiet. A butchery with well displayed meat on the right stands a few steps to left of an entrance that leads to the main restaurant.

At Hagon restaurant, which is popular with well-heeled residents of Garden estate, Thome, Marurui and Muthaiga North, fish, the mainstay of this understated eatery, is fried in the open.

This is the joint where popular hotelier William Osewe had his lunch with long friend Tom Oywa Mboya before stepping out.

“They arrived here around 1pm and ate peacefully for some time before leaving”, one of the staffers present on the fateful day told The Nairobian, adding that “Both have been coming here mostly to enjoy fresh fish. In fact they are our long time customers.”

Osewe, the staffer clarified, was not shot inside the restaurant, but approximately 50 metres behind the restaurant where Oywa is said to have followed Osewe from behind.

At the spot where Osewe was shot is a dusty road with a garage on one side. There, a pool of blood said to have oozed from Osewe’s stomach has since dried, forming black spots in the middle of the road.

Mechanics that were on duty on the material afternoon were shaken by the gunshots only to come out and see Osewe kneeling down.

“They had parked their cars on the hotel ground. Osewe was ahead of him (Oywa) by about three or four metres as they argued in loud voices. I just heard Osewe telling him... “I know you have a gun, go ahead and shoot me...I don’t have a gun, Job Onyango, a mechanic recalls.”

According to Onyango, before he could utter a word, Oywa whipped out a gun and shot twice Osewe in the stomach, with the third bullet hitting a security guard manning a gate, metres from the scene.

“After he shot him, he (Osewe) knelt down and told the man (Oywa) to kill him since he knew what he was after,” said Onyango.