A father of two and another man was shot and killed while travelling in a taxi.
Jerome Fitzgibbons, 34, was murdered in Owen Road, Elsies River, just minutes after leaving his home. The two unknown assailants fled on foot.
His wife Marolene Fitzgibbon, 32, and their 11-year-old son were called to the scene after hearing the devastating news from one of her neighbours, while their two-year-old son was at home
She says her husband knew the other victim, aged 25, but didn’t identify him.
Marolene says: “Jerome didn’t deserve to die like that, they would both walk to the taxis every morning.
“He was a good man, a good father, he wasn’t on drugs, he only drank and he worked as a welding engineer in Atlantis. He was killed on his way to work.
“The gaatjie said he didn’t know what happened. Someone came and told me that he had been shot while he was in the taxi.”
She tells the Daily Voice her husband was innocent.
The devastated widow adds: “He was not a gangster, he had three brothers and not even one of them is a gangster, born and bred in Elsies River. We have been married for four years, and we have two children.
“My husband was a people’s person – he laughed and talked with everybody. He only smoked cigarettes and not even ganja.”
A visibly traumatised female passenger of the white Toyota Quantum van, wearing a bloodied red T-shirt, was taken away by the police.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg said Elsies River police are investigating two counts of murder.
Twigg reports: “The possibility that the incident might be gang related will be investigated. The unknown suspects fled the scene and are yet to be arrested.”
Elsies River Community policing forum (CPF) chairperson Imhraan Mukkadam confirms that there is a gang war in the area.
Imhraan says: “Over the last few weeks our area has become a war zone, we have daily shootings.
“It’s becoming intolerable, we are asking for additional resources like the Law Enforcement, because we expect retaliation.
“There is no Law Enforcement deployed in the area and we would like to have some deployed on this side. SAPS is under resourced.
“We condemn the killing irrespective of the motive, we can imagine the people in the taxi and the trauma they have to go through.”
Anyone with any information about this shooting incident can contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
