Tears, rage, and a call for justice marked the somber scene at Nairobi Funeral Home on Thursday as families of five men killed during the Saba Saba protests gathered for postmortem examinations.

The autopsies confirmed that all five victims died from gunshot wounds, allegedly inflicted by police.

According to the families and human rights activists, the deceased—Elvis Musavi, Paul Makori, Anthony Maina, Peter Gachanja and Joseph Wangai—were unarmed civilians, most of them from informal settlements in Nairobi.

Albert Oyaro, the uncle of Paul Makori from Kangemi, said he was shot twice and one bullet was recovered from the body.

“The bullet was found between the armpits and the chest. The other bullet entered through the heart, but we did not get it,” said Oyaro.

Oyaro appealed for justice and financial assistance. “We are pleading for justice to the family and the deceased. We are financially crippled, because this found us unaware. We are pleading for well-wishers who can help to chip in and help us with burial arrangements.”

For Jacinta Muthoni, the pain is immeasurable. She lost her only son, 34-year-old Anthony Maina, who was shot while heading to a chemist to buy medicine for his wife in Kahawa West.

“Maina was my only son and I don’t have any other. He was shot in the abdomen and the bullet was recovered in the spine. I am pleading that we get justice,” said Muthoni.

She said that Maina was not only the family’s breadwinner but also a husband and father.

“He has left a widow with young children. We don’t know how we will survive without him,” she said.

The postmortems were conducted in the presence of family members, human rights activists, and officials from the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), who were handed the recovered bullets for ballistic testing.

Hussein Khalid, CEO of Vocal Africa, confirmed the findings, that all the victims were all shot.

“The doctors were able to confirm gunshot wounds from the five bodies and were able to recover two bullets. One is from the body of Paul Makori, the bullet was lodged just near the ribs, and the other from the body of Anthony Maina, where it was lodged in the spine,” said Khalid.

Khalid urged authorities to act swiftly and transparently.

“We have handed over the bullet remains to IPOA. They have taken them for ballistic testing, and we are hoping that we will be able to identify the guns that actually took the shots so that we can get the suspected police officers to be arraigned in a court of law,” he said.

He also raised concerns over the nature of the shootings.

“They died as a result of bleeding because of the gunshots. It is very clear that no one has been shot in the leg or in the hand. All these were body shots. So the officers were very clear on their mission. And when they took those shots, we can almost say for sure their intention was to kill,” he said.