Soshanguve mass killings: Cops launch manhunt after deadly shooting, burnt children

Two people were shot and killed while four others sustained gunshot wounds during a shooting at a shebeen in an informal settlement in Soshanguve, Gauteng Province on Sunday night, June 2.

It is alleged that armed suspects charged into the shebeen and started firing shots at patrons. Two of the victims, a male, and a female, died on the scene and the other four were taken to the nearest hospital where they are being treated.

It is alleged that the suspects proceeded to a shack in the same area where two young girls aged 4-year-old and 7-year-old were sleeping and burned it down with the children in it. The two girls were both certified dead on the scene.  

Preliminary investigations suggest that the suspects were after the father of the girls who was not home during the incident. Police are working closely with the residents and are following every lead that might result in the arrest of the suspects.

“No arrests have been made yet. This case is being prioritised like all other cases where children are the victims”, said the Gauteng Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni.

“A task team responsible for crime detection has been set up, led by the Gauteng Deputy Provincial Commissioner Major General Mbuso Khumalo. The team is working round the clock to trace and arrest the suspects”, said Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo.

This comes less than a month after young Ditebogo Phalane was brutally shot outside his home during a hijacking incident in Soshanguve, and as South Africa was approaching the end of child protection week which runs annually from 29 May to 5 June.