‘Gangs are killing us, not Coronavirus’
|Published
INCREASE: Victim shot near the Lentegeur train station INCREASE: Victim shot near the Lentegeur train station
Skollies are killing more people than the Coronavirus in Mitchells Plain.
Four people are dead and five were wounded in shootings in the area over the weekend.
One of the deceased victims is an 18-year-old boy and a couple standing in front of their home were left injured.
Police sources say the spate of shootings in Lentegeur, Eastridge, Beacon Valley, Woodlands, Montrose Park and Tafelsig is gang-related and started on Friday, as lockdown restrictions were relaxed to Level 4.
Community policing structures have now called for reinforcements.
Abie Isaacs, from the Mitchells Plain Community Policing Forum, says they are shocked by the increase of shootings: “There have been more deaths (caused by gangsters) than the virus this week in these areas.”
Mitchells Plain currently has 218 positive Covid-19 cases.
On Friday morning in Snapdragon Street, Lentegeur, a married couple who were standing in front of their gate were wounded in a drive-by shooting.
Relatives say the couple were innocent bystanders.
Saban Samuels, 28, and Aakielah Thornton, 23, are currently in hospital.
“They were standing in front of the gate and a car came past and stopped and two guys got out and began to shoot,” says the relative who asked not to be identified.
“They first shot him and then his wife. They shot at close range.”
She says the couple managed to run into the house to safety.
Two hours later, just after 1pm, cops were called to Firethorn Street also in Lentegeur where a 15-year-old boy and a 29-year-old man had been wounded.
Shocked family members rushed the teen to hospital. They were not ready to speak to the media.
Police sources say one of the wounded belongs to a gang and that a turf war was raging between the Fancy Boys and Dixie Boys.
BLOODY SCENE: Shooting in Lentegeur appears to be a gang-related turf war
Police spokesperson, Colonel Andrè Traut, says there have been no arrests for these shootings.
This was followed on Saturday by the tragic shooting of 18-year-old Chad Stevens and his friend, who has only been identified as Justin, 17.
Chad died on the scene in Nero Street, Eastridge, while his friend passed away in hospital.
Chad’s heartbroken mother, Carmen Stevens, 53, says her son matriculated from Beacon Hill High School in Eastridge last year and was planning to study Criminology next year.
INNOCENT: Chad Stevens killed
The single mom, who sells fruit and vegetables in Town Centre, says: “I was in the centre broking when they came to say he had been shot.
“His 24-year-old brother, Monray, rushed to the scene and he was still alive and they just looked at one another before he passed away.
“His friend passed away in hospital on Sunday after being declared brain dead.
“Chad was a child who didn’t even smoke a cigarette.
“He always told me, 'mommy, I want to study so that you don’t need to work anymore in the Town Centre' and now he can’t do that.”
INCREASE: Victim shot near the Lentegeur train station
Juven Rittles of Beacon Hill Alumni has been supporting the family.
“Each year we have ex-matriculants of Beacon Hill to revisit the school and to speak about their dreams and what they want to achieve in life,” Rittles says.
“I had interaction with Chad last year. He wanted to study criminology. He was no gangster.
“We as alumni are collecting groceries and money to help with things like electricity as his mother won’t be able to work and focus now.”
Traut says the suspects fled and are yet to be arrested.
Two more fatal shootings were reported in Tradom Street in Tafelsig and Hengelaar Street in Beacon Valley.
Byron de Villiers of the Lentegeur Community Policing Forum says they need help: “We are now having to fight the Coronavirus and the shootings. We are asking for reinforcements like the army and additional police to be deployed.”