Johannesburg. Seventeen people, including 15 women, were killed in two mass shootings at two homes on the same street in a rural South African town, police said Saturday.
The authorities were searching for the suspects, national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe explained in a statement. Of the victims, 15 were women and two men, he added. One person was admitted to a hospital in critical condition.
This person was one of four women, a man and a two-month-old baby, who survived one of the attacks. So far, authorities have not provided details of the age or gender of the person in critical condition, or the health condition of the other survivors.
The shootings occurred on Friday night in the town of Lusikisiki, in the Eastern Cape province in the country’s southeast.
Three women and a man died in the first shooting at a home, where there were no survivors, according to police. Twelve women and one man were murdered in another home a short time later. The survivors were present at the second shooting. The events occurred in the late hours of Friday or early Saturday, according to the police.
A video from the scene, released by police, shows several rural homes along a dirt road on the outskirts of the city. Residents stood on the side of the road as forensic investigators marked off the crime scene with yellow and black tape and began their investigations.
National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola said he had ordered the deployment of a specialized team of detectives from Pretoria, the administrative capital, to assist in the investigation.
“A manhunt has been launched to apprehend those responsible for these heinous murders,” said Mathe, the police spokeswoman.
Local media reported that the people were at a family gathering at the time of the shooting, but the police did not indicate the possible motive or how many attackers there were and what type of weapons they used. However, authorities consider that both events are related.
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– 2024-10-04 22:06:49
