8 killed in Gugs shooting

POLICE Minister Bheki Cele says cops are following several leads in a massacre on Wednesday in Gugulethu in which eight people died after gunmen ambushed a traditional gathering, shooting nine victims.

Western Cape acting commissioner of police Thembisile Patekile said the victims were sitting outside a house in the area on Wednesday evening after a traditional ceremony when they were ambushed by unknown gunmen who opened fire on the group, killing five people at the scene and injuring four, of whom three later died in hospital.

Patekile, who accompanied Police Minister Bheki Cele to the crime scene, said the police launched a manhunt for the suspects and were already pursuing a few leads, which may lead to the arrests.

After briefly visiting with the family, Cele addressed the media outside the home. He reiterated that the police were seriously investigating the mass shooting, which was not the first, second or third such incident in the city.

“I hope that we don’t get used to these incidents here on the Cape Flats.

“On Tuesday last week I was here trying to figure out how we can deal with these cases, especially the cases that could be called cold cases where people have been killed but we don’t have the answers to what happened.

“Looking at the history of the issues here, we have lost so many people; however, we have also arrested quite a number of people, too, but not concerning what happened today.

“I have been told, that the suspects came here in two vehicles and opened fire and unfortunately people lost their lives. So the issue of what happened and the names, we will leave that to the investigators.

“We have also spoken to the family and they are willing to co-operate with the investigation, so we hope that soon we will get the people and the motive, but our first prize is to get the people who did this. We have a few leads and maybe it’s enough to say at the present moment,” said Cele.

He went on to say that police had looked into those who were present at the family gathering as part of their investigations, which led them to discover that one of the victims had a damning criminal record.

“I must say, I was a bit taken aback when I was told that one of the persons who were here at the time of the incident had a terrible criminal record.

“I even asked how he was not incarcerated and was told he was out on bail. Now, I am not saying that could be the reason, but we had to look at the people who were here,” said Cele.

A family member who did not want to be named said the family was struggling to come to terms with what happened, especially as they were secondary witnesses to the incident, having been inside the house at the time of the shooting.

She said: “I’m not okay, I don’t think I can ever be okay. I was here at home when it happened. We were at the back when it happened.

“I remember, people came running in from the front, and when we asked them what was going on but they didn’t respond ... we got scared when we heard people screaming, and the gunshots. It was chaos so we also just ran.

“When we finally came out to the front, we just saw bodies laid out here; three of them were family and the others were my brother’s friends.

“I don’t think we will ever get over this, because every time I come outside I’m reminded of what happened here.”

Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz has called for a united show of action against the killings, saying the quick institution of the 72-hour activation plan by the police was the kind of response needed.

“We would like to condemn these killings in the strongest possible terms and would like to commend the police for their quick response.

“By the time we received reports of this horrific news, the police had launched a 72-hour activation plan and detectives were already on the scene. This is exactly the kind of response that we need from the police, exactly the kind of reaction we need to events like this,” he said.