Police are investigating the Milpark Hospital murder after a man was gunned down in the parking lot of the Johannesburg medical facility on Wednesday evening.
The victim, identified as 45-year-old Burnett Benacoba Hermanus, was shot multiple times shortly after visiting a patient.
According to police spokesperson Captain Tintswalo Sibeko, officers have opened a murder case.
“The South African Police Service has opened a case of murder after a 45-year-old man was fatally shot multiple times at the parking area of Milpark Hospital. The incident occurred after the victim visited a friend at the hospital,” Sibeko said.
She confirmed that no arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing.
Hermanus, also known by the alias Mr B, was not an ordinary victim.
Sources confirmed that he had long been a prime suspect in the murders of liquidators Cloete and Thomas Murray, who were assassinated in 2023.
The Murray father and son were shot while working on cases involving multi-million-rand fraud.
Cloete Murray was a well-known corruption whistleblower, while Thomas was his business partner and son.
The shooting outside Milpark Hospital bore the hallmarks of a planned hit. Witnesses said at least 15 bullets were fired into Hermanus’s orange Isuzu bakkie, which was cordoned off by police forensic teams.
Anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee suggested on social media that the killing appeared to be an assassination.
Police sources told News24 that Hermanus had been under active investigation for nearly two years. He was suspected of being one of the gunmen seen in CCTV footage from the Murray murder case. Investigators had been preparing to move in on him, but he was killed before an arrest could be made.
The Murray killings shook South Africa’s legal and financial sectors, as the liquidators had been probing fraudulent loans linked to the Singh family’s companies.
Thomas Murray died instantly when their car came under fire, while Cloete succumbed to his injuries the next day.
Hermanus’s death raises new questions for investigators, as one of their main suspects in the Murray assassinations has now been eliminated before standing trial.
For now, police are urging the public to allow them to continue their investigations without interference.
The motive for Hermanus’s killing remains under investigation.