There was chaos in Connaught Estate in Elsies River on Wednesday night after a teenaged boy was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting.
Police say two other teens aged 15 and 18 sustained injuries in the shooting which occurred at the intersection of Owen and Clarke Streets.
Gilliano Sass,14, was declared dead on the scene.
A family member, who asked to remain anonymous, said when she arrived back from the shops, she got a call saying that Gilliano was shot and lying in 39th Street.
She explains: “When I got there I saw he was already dead and was closed, I don’t know what happened there.
“There was a girl who said they were standing there, and a grey car came, and the shots rang out.”
She says Gilliano is believed to have been shot in the neck, but she will only be able to be certain when she goes to identify his body at the morgue today.
She says rumours abound as the shooting happened in an area known for smash-and-grab incidents.
She says she will “scratch and scratch until I get to the truth.”
Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg said murder and attempted murder cases were registered for investigation.
Twigg reports: “Police members responded to a complaint of a shooting and upon arrival on the scene, they found the victims with gunshot wounds to their bodies.
“The 14-year-old victim was declared deceased on the scene by medical personnel, while the other two victims were taken to a medical facility for medical treatment.
“The motive for the attack forms part of the police investigation.”
At the time of the shooting, Gilliano did not attend school and the family member admits that he was in with the wrong crowd.
The relative says: “I prepared myself [for bad news] because I knew he mixed with gangsters.”
Elsies River Community Policing Forum (CPF) spokesperson, Imrhaan Mukaddam, said smash-and-grab incidents have become intolerable and crime at that intersection can be prevented with police visibility.
He adds: “We are not really getting any real response from Saps of Law Enforcement. We need permanent monitoring on all these hotspots.”
Mukaddam appealed to authorities to provide a budget so that CPF can deploy patrollers at the hotspots.
He says: “Communities want to address the problem, but we need an incentive because we can't expect volunteers to put themselves in harm's way but get no compensation.
“There are enough unemployed neighbourhood watch and Community in Blue patrollers to ensure this problem can be addressed.”
byron.lukas@inl.co.za