Two separate mass shootings, one in Pietermaritzburg and the other in KwaMashu, reported in the past 24 hours left 14 people dead in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Pietermaritzburg family mass shooting leaves 10 dead, two suspects arrested
In the latest incident, two gunmen entered a house in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday night and ambushed a family, killing seven women and three men.
Two suspects have since been arrested, and one of them was shot, Police Minister Bheki Cele confirmed to media reporters during an oversight visit to the crime scene, on Friday.
Cele, alongside the national police commissioner Fanie Masemola, arrived in KwaZulu-Natal on Friday morning to oversee investigations into the streak of violence that erupted in Durban this week.
Speaking to Times Live, Ward councillor Mabhungu Mkhize the community was still reeling from the shock of the brazen mass murder that claimed multiple generations of a single family.
Mkhize said he received a call just after 04:00 alerting him to the shooting.
When he eventually arrived at the crime scene, the police had already cordoned off the area.
Mkhize said he could not see because it was dark, but the police informed him that 10 people were killed.
Mkhize added that the community had experienced violent crime in the past, but never had such a mass murder ever occurred in Imbali, Pietermaritzburg.
“This is not different from a massacre. We had a mass shooting last year but four people were killed. This is shocking. I am also going to call family members to see how we can assist them,” he said.
In a separate incident, four men were shot dead in Durban’s KwaMashu B section on Thursday afternoon.
It is alleged four men were amused in a room by four heavily armed suspects.
Two of the deceased were brothers who lived in the house, while one was a neighbour, and the other was a friend who had visited from Phoenix, reportedly the night before.
The suspects reportedly fled the scene in a vehicle belonging to one of the victims, and have yet to be captured.
It remains unclear, at this juncture, if both mass shootings, which claimed a total of 14 lives, are connected.
