2014 Photo Contest, Spot News, 2nd prize

Massacre at Westgate Mall

Photographer

Tyler Hicks

The New York Times

21 September, 2013

On 21 September, masked gunmen opened fire at Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall.

About the photographer

Tyler Hicks

Tyler Hicks is a staff photographer for The New York Times. He began working for The Times as a contract photographer in Kenya in 1999, photographing news stories in East and Wes...

Background story

Nairobi, Kenya

A woman and two children hide during an attack on the Westgate mall. They eventually escaped unharmed.

 

On 21 September, masked gunmen opened fire at Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall. The upmarket mall was popular among expats and the Kenyan elite. In a siege that lasted four days, at least 60 people died and up to 200 were injured. The four main perpetrators of the attack were killed, and a number of other men were later tried as accomplices. The four gunmen were all of Somali origin. The Somali jihadist group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was a warning to Kenya to pull its troops out of Somalia, where they were part of an African Union peacekeeping force in conflict with the militants.

Technical information

Shutter Speed
1/125
Focal length
111.0 mm
F-Stop
6.3
ISO
500

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