’We do not think the incidents are linked because they took place in different provinces.’
By Nqobile Dludla and Tim Cocks
JOHANNESBURG – Gunmen armed with rifles and pistols opened fire at people in a tavern in Soweto in the early hours of Sunday, killing 15 and wounding nine, police said.
The carnage took place shortly after midnight, according to police who said the group of men entered the Orlando East tavern in the township on the outskirts of Johannesburg before “shooting randomly at the patrons”.
Police confirmed that there had been a second apparently random shooting at around 8.30pm on Saturday in a tavern in Pietermaritzburg, killing four people and wounding eight.
“We do not think the incidents are linked because they took place in different provinces. We are investigating this incident on its own,” Nqobile Gwala, police spokesperson for KwaZulu-Natal said by telephone.
A police spokesperson said there was currently no suspicion the incidents were related.
In both cases, the unknown gunmen fled the scene and are now on the run, police said, adding that it was not clear how many were involved in the attacks or what their motives were.
At the scene of the Soweto shooting, crowds gathered around the police cordon, where a heavy police presence maintained order and combed the area for clues, a Reuters reporter saw. One officer carried zip-locked bags full of spent bullet cartridges.
Elias Mawela, Gauteng police commissioner, told Reuters by telephone that there had been a third shooting during a suspected robbery in a tavern in Katlehong, also outside Johannesburg, on Thursday night, which killed two people and wounded two others.
Referring to the Soweto shooting, Mawela said: “Why were they targeted? There was no specific person targeted. You can see by the way the bullet cartridges are cast around that were just shooting randomly.”
– REUTERS
