A heartbroken mom says her desperate efforts to get an ambulance to save her daughter's life was not enough.
Whitney Dennis, 15, was shot and killed near her Tafelsig home in Mitchells Plain on Wednesday.
She was killed alongside her friend Junaid Hill, 24, while two others, aged 23 and 16, were shot and wounded.
The group was attacked in Bainskloof Street.
Her hartseer mom Geraldine Dennis, 41, says she was at home when she heard gunshots.
She explains: “After someone called out Whitney’s name, my husband went to look.
“I eventually went out there and my daughter was lying on the ground. My sister in Christ was kneeling by her head and praying for Whitney.
“At that time I got on the phone calling for the ambulance to quickly come and they kept asking me things over and over. They said they would get back to me because there were no ambulances to be sent out.
“I told them there was a teenage girl who had been shot. I kept calling and some of their questions was about medical aid and they said I could call a private ambulance.
“I ended up calling my cousin who works at a hospital, she also told me there were no ambulances.”
She was then told the paramedics were at the police station. presumably waiting for an escort.
The grieving mom adds: “It had been more than 30 minutes, a ribbon was put around the scene.
“I was under the impression she was still alive but they told me she died. She had no visible wounds, or blood.
“She didn’t speak while I was there but I had hope. I was disappointed in the paramedics, maybe she could have been saved if they didn’t take so long to come.”
Geraldine says the victims are innocent youngsters living in the area.
She adds: “None of the people she stood with were gangsters. Junaid was such a nice young man, he always greeted me when he walked past.
“What I heard was that there were guys who just went to them and started shooting at random. It’s a common thing here.”
Junaid’s uncle Vivian Miller says he was never a gangster.
Vivian tells the Daily Voice: “It's sad he had to go through that. We are devastated, there are no words to describe how we feel.
“Junaid would help anybody, they knew who he was, he always wore that big red beanie.”
Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg says according to reports unknown suspects approached the victims on foot and started shooting at them before fleeing the scene.
Twigg confirms: “The motive for the attack forms part of the police investigation.”
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za