“Our brothers are dead.”
A suspect reportedly said this while fleeing after a shootout in Lindelani, Ntuzuma, on Sunday night.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said an unknown number of suspects in two vehicles were reportedly planning a business robbery in KwaMashu.
Netshiunda said: “The suspects’ two vehicles were parked at the corner of Mdubu and Melusi streets and it is suspected that the suspects had a disagreement which led to shots being fired among themselves.
“Police stumbled upon that altercation and the suspects then turned their guns to the police and police retaliated.
“During the shootout, four suspects were shot and fatally wounded. A search in the vicinity of the crime scene led to the discovery of the body of the fifth suspect who had attempted to flee and had sustained gunshot wounds.”
Concerns arose about crime scene tampering. The fifth suspect was found without his cellphone after claims he called his mother before his death.
A resident said that around 11pm, she heard people running before crossing a stream after hearing gunshots.
“Schoolchildren saw him (fifth suspect) in the morning when they were going to school. They said someone was sleeping in the water,” she said.
“When we went to see, he was lying in the stream, face up.”
She said they learned the fifth suspect called his mother, stating that the people he was with were dead and that he was in a stream, unsure of its location. Later when his family tried calling him, his phone was on voicemail. When his family arrived, they asked if there was a stream nearby, following what he said.
Around 10pm, a woman near the crime scene (in an outside building) was on Facebook after watching TV and while her family slept.
“I heard gunshots and hid with the baby,” she said.
She said the gunshots sounded like they were sent to their home.
A bullet struck the window, and another hit the wall and the baby’s nappies.
“I’m shocked, I’m not okay,” she said.
The main house’s windows, wall, and roof were all shot at, she said. There were children in the house, the eldest being about 18.
The teen heard gunshots and a bullet hit the window when they checked. They saw a light and their ears started ringing. They took the children and hid in a bedroom wardrobe. The teen did not want to leave the room out of fear.
“We were afraid to do anything, go to the toilet or even cough. We only went outside around 6am.
“We’re not okay. Maybe we need counselling,” she said.
Ntuzuma Sector 2 Community Policing Forum chairperson Njabulo Mseleku said the cause of the shooting between accomplices is unknown, but it may have been linked to robbery and drugs, as some of the suspects at the first scene were alleged drug runners.
“We don’t know what brought them here,” Mseleku said.
The community said the suspects were not from the area. Mseleku agreed but argued that they must have known someone there.
“How could someone run and find themselves in a stream without knowing how to get there?” Mseleku asked. “They came here for someone, who’s a perpetrator who might try to hide away. Some of them hide among us.”
They are reportedly from Phoenix, Wentworth, Newlands East and Chatsworth, Mseleku said.
The area is experiencing an increase in robberies involving weapons and vehicles, including issues with seven-seater vehicles, house robberies, and robberies of people sitting in cars parked on the road.
“E-hailing vehicles started well but now it is bad because they cover their shortfall by breaking into people’s houses and robbing people,” Mseleku said.
Netshiunda said the suspects were found in possession of three firearms. No police officer was injured during the shootout.
“Two more suspects who were injured when the suspects shot each other were located at a hospital,” Netshiunda said.
“A search is under way for the suspects who evaded arrest.”
