A well known Nuku'alofa businesswoman Mosimani Helu died shortly after midday today in Vaiola Hospital after being shot by an assailant at her home in Kolofo'ou this morning.

It is understood that a man went to the doorway of Mosimani's home where he shot her in the head and then walked into the back yard where he turned the gun on himself and shot himself dead.

Police have cordoned off the area around the Mosimani Shop and the family home on Hala Mateialona.

It is the second shooting of a woman in Nuku'alofa in less than four months, but it is thought that the incidents are unrelated.

Eye Witness

A customer, Sosefo 'Otutaha, said he was an eye witness of the fatal shooting of Mosimani Helu, this morning, arriving at the shop at about the same time as the assailant, sometime after 9 am. Sosefo told Matangi Tonga Online that he was walking toward the Mosimani shop as the gunman entered the gate of Mosimani's house located next to the shop. He said the gunman walked toward Mosimani who was standing on the side steps of her house.

Sosefo said that at close range the gunman fired what appeared to be a .22 rifle shooting Mosimani in the head.

"She fell and it did not look good because blood was coming out at the back of her head.

"The gunman then kept walking to the backyard of the property and shot himself."

Soefo said that things happened so fast that some of the people in Mosimani's house found out what happened only after the police arrived.

"Firing a .22 is not very loud and it can be easily mistaken for a fire cracker," he said.

The reason behind the shooting is not known but a neighbour believed that the gunman used to work for Mosimani as a security man about two years ago.

A grey van, believed to have been driven by the man, remained parked outside the Helu home.

Entrepreneur

Mosimani was an established business woman in Nuku'alofa. She started from just a small shop, then expanded to a mobile caravan cafeteria, and just last year she renovated her neighbour's incomplete hotel building and turned it into an office and little shops complex to help fill the need for commercial buildings after 16/11.

Mosimani was married to Saimone Helu, the general manager of the Tonga Water Board. They have a family.