A taxi driver died after allegedly being shot in a retaliation attack by skollie extortionists in Ottery.
Cops and paramedics were called to the scene along Ottery Road shortly before 6pm on Saturday, where they found the white Toyota Quantum squashed between a wall and a tree after the driver crashed his van trying to escape his attackers.
Grassy Park station commander Dawood Laing says the driver was declared dead after suffering a gunshot to the neck while two other occupants were transported to hospital.
“The incident occurred on the corner of Link and Ottery roads. Grassy Park police responded to the incident but the docket will be transferred to Lansdowne Saps for further investigation as it falls within their boundary,” he said.
“The driver collided with a tree and a wall after the shooting and it is believed that his murder was a retaliation attack by the gangsters from the Ottery flats.”
Laing says during the preliminary investigation, it was found that a group of taxi drivers had moered a group of skollies earlier in the day for allegedly trying to extort them.
“This was a retaliation attack. What happened was that earlier on Saturday the Mongrels from the Ottery Flats had threatened the taxis with violence if they did not pay protection fees. The [drivers] got hold of a few of them and assaulted them and it is believed that the Mongrels came back and shot at the taxi, killing the driver,” he explained.
“There were two other people in the taxi who suffered gunshot wounds to the lower back and the other was hit in his legs. The taxi drivers operate along the Wynberg to Mitchells Plain route.”