The mother of a three-day-old baby is one of six people who lost their lives in a killing spree in Mfuleni on Sunday.
Police have now activated a 72-hour operation to hunt down the suspects involved in the three shootings.
Police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut says the bloodbath started around 1.30pm in Ilingwa Street where three people were shot and killed by four armed suspects.
“Three males aged 32, 39 and one with an unknown age were shot and killed in Iligwa Street, Ext 6, Mfuleni,” he says.
“A fourth victim sustained a gunshot wound and was hospitalised. Four suspects fled and are yet to be arrested.”
Although Traut couldn’t confirm it, Buntu Vara, 37, says his wife Zandile, 35, was also killed in this attack.
He says Zandile was sleeping on their bed when the shooting started and was hit in the head.
“It is a fight between gangsters, one gangster was being shot at and he ran towards our home,” he says.
“A bullet from the shooter entered the house and caught my wife in her head. She died while rushing to the hospital.”
The grieving husband says their baby boy is their first child and only three days old.
“I will have to raise this baby alone now, with the help of relatives,” adds Buntu.
Some homes were abandoned when the Daily Voice visited the area on Monday and people in the street started running away when they heard the reporter’s car pull up.
“The shooters pulled up like this and opened fire,” explained one frightened resident.
“We are scared because the shooters came more than once and we do not know when they might return again.”
Meanwhile, Traut says a second shooting happened at around 6.30pm where a man was shot and killed in a tavern.
“A 29-year-old man was shot and killed in a tavern in Shire Street, Ext 6, Mfuleni by unknown suspects who are yet to be arrested,” he says.
He adds: “The last shooting happened an hour later where two men, aged 26 and 30 years old, were shot and killed at Bosasa, Mfuleni, by unknown suspects.
“One victim was discovered in the driver’s seat of an Avanza, and the other one outside the vehicle,” says Traut.
He said it was too soon in the investigation to speculate on the motives for the murders.
velani.ludidi@inl.co.za