NAIROBI, Kenya—Lives were lost, hundreds were injured and the spirit of Kenyans came to the fore once again. Various stories of how some brave civilians and security agents rescued the day after armed terrorists took over the Westgate shopping mall were highlighted.
Among these Kenyans was Satpal Singh, who braved onslaught from both police officers and the terrorists to save lives.
On the one hand were terrorists, armed and hungry for human blood. On the other side of the fence, were police officers hunting down the cruel attackers.
For Singh, it was literally a catch 22.
“I got shot at four times; twice by a young man as I was trying to help someone who had been injured and twice again by police officers who thought we were terrorists when we were asking for help from the terrace of the mall,” he told Capital FM News.
“It is by God’s grace that those bullets missed me.”
Singh was having a meeting at the Java Coffee House on the second floor of the mall when loud bangs rented the air and disrupted the soft music that was playing.
He and his friend dashed to the rails to see what was happening downstairs only for their eyes to be met by a horrid sight.
“There was a stampede near the main entrance. People were running around and some of them had fallen on the ground and were being stepped on,” he recalled.
But instead of running for cover like most people would do, Singh and his friend decided to go downstairs to see if there were any people they could help and take to safety.
On their way down, they bumped into a police officer who was hiding behind a pillar with an AK-47.
According to Singh, who was only armed with a baton that he had taken from a security guard, the officer declined to accompany them downstairs.
“I requested him to come with us so that we can confront the men because he had a gun but he refused and we went without him,” said Singh.
When Singh and his unnamed friend got to the main entrance, they saw one person with the face lying down; another person was lying dead near the staircase.
But when they went to offer assistance to the injured person, a young man in a white shirt, bandana and a black shoulder bag, shot at them forcing them to flee.
“I ran back up stairs to get the policeman so that we could fight this man but to my surprise the police man had also fled from where he was hiding,” said Singh.
When they got upstairs, Singh and his friend pushed about 30 people inside the Books First store and then asked the security guards to pull the shutters down to protect them from being seen.
After a brief period, the group moved to the Movie Theatre and placed their phones on silent mode.
But soon enough the terrorists had reached the first floor and the group had to think of a fast way out.
“From one of the windows, we saw two more attackers coming to where we were and they were standing outside Books First. These ones had bandanas on their heads and were shooting at random and so we had to move,” he explained.
The fire exits at the movie theatre provided a quick way of escaping.
But someone had to scout it and make sure that it was safe for everyone. Singh and one of the Java waiters took up the challenge and gave the rest of the civilians the green light.
“We went all the way to the terrace but the doors could not be locked from the outside. So we took some heavy construction equipment that we found on the terrace to barricade the door to prevent the attackers from coming up to where we were,” he revealed.
But even as they made their way to the terrace, more drama awaited them. Police officers started shooting at them.
“We were asking for help from people who were at the bottom but some police officers started shooting at us thinking we were terrorists,” he said.
“A bullet missed one of the waiters by inches and so we decided to just sit down there quietly and pray for help.”
Eventually, help came through when police officers who had used the Java fire escape found them on the terrace.
Singh and others had to carry those who were injured as the armed police officers kept vigil.
“We had to put injured people on our shoulders to take them to the ambulances which were trying to get in. There were also small children that we carried because they were in shock,” he said.
What has been described as a cowardly act has left 59 dead so far.
Through the pain and sorrow that has been left behind by the terror attack, it is the hope of many that those who are still being held hostage are safely reunited with their loved ones.
