Durban – Three men were killed following a shooting in oThongathi on Friday night.
Police spokesperson Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said that Tongaat police are investigating cases of murder following an incident in which three men were allegedly shot and killed outside a business premises in oThongathi.
“Reports indicate that the deceased were sitting outside when unknown men alighted from a vehicle and fired shots,” Ngcobo said.
“Two men were declared dead while the other deceased was rushed to hospital for medical attention. He later died at the hospital.”
CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) KZN said that at about 9pm, they received a call for assistance for a shooting in the oThongathi central area.
Emergency services and CERT volunteers were dispatched.
“The motive for the shooting is still unclear and will be subject to an SAPS investigation,” CERT said.
According to IPSS Medical Rescue managing director Dylan Meyrick, on the night of the shooting, IPSS Medical Rescue responded to the oThongathi area after receiving reports of a shooting.
“On arrival of paramedics, it was established that three men had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Sadly, two of the men were declared deceased on the scene,” Meyrick said.
“The third man was found to be in a critical condition after having sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the head and was stabilised on scene by IPSS Medical Rescue and EMRS advanced life support paramedics before being transported to a nearby facility for further care.”
Meyrick added: “Our sincere condolences to the friends and family of the deceased.”
In May, when Police Minister Bheki Cele released the fourth quarter crime statistics, he said that murder had increased countrywide by 3.4% between January and March 2023.
Cele said that 6 289 people were killed with either a firearm, a knife, sharp or blunt instruments, stones or even bare hands, between January and March.
“The majority of the killings took place in the KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Gauteng provinces with arguments, vigilantism and robberies topping the motive list for murder.
“The KwaZulu-Natal province also reported the highest figures of multiple murder cases, followed by the Eastern Cape with 206 and 155 victims respectively,” Cele said.
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