A series of brutal mass shootings in Gugulethu, Cape Town, has left the community reeling and law enforcement authorities scrambling for leads.
Gugulethu mass shootings: Two crime scenes, five days apart, claim 10 lives
Over the course of five days, 10 individuals have tragically lost their lives in separate incidents marked by shocking violence.
The most recent incident occurred on Saturday evening (30 September 2023), where four men and a woman were gunned down in NY5, Gugulethu.
Coincidentally, this shooting took place a stone’s throw away from another mass shooting that transpired on A Fenqe Street just days earlier, on Monday, 25 September 2023.
In Saturday’s incident, at approximately 23:00, gun-wielding suspects were dropped off a short distance from two vehicles parked on the roadside, according to Western Cape police.
Eyewitnesses claim the suspects approached the vehicles and unleashed a hail of bullets upon the occupants. Following the attack, the assailants fled in the same vehicle.
In a statement, police spokesperson Colonel André Traut revealed that detectives specialising in serious violent crimes are working tirelessly to follow up on several leads.
However, as of now, no arrests have been made in connection with the case.
Furthermore, Cape Town detectives are also investigating a separate mass shooting in Gugulethu that occurred on Monday, 25 September 2023, claiming the lives of five individuals.
In this incident, the victims, all men aged between 46 and 52, were sitting inside two vehicles when they were targeted by unidentified gunmen.
Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa disclosed that reports indicate another vehicle carrying armed assailants approached the victims’ vehicles, resulting in a deadly barrage of gunfire.
The motive behind this devastating attack remains under investigation, and no arrests have been made in connection with this incident either.