The community of Bonteheuwel is reeling in shock after both a father and his two-year-old were shot on Wednesday night [June5] while walking to the shop. The incident took place at about 7.15pm, and the father died immediately. His son died shortly after being transferred from Vanguard Hospital to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital.
“Crime scene experts are still on the scene combing the area for clues on Bonteheuwel Avenue, Bonteheuwel,” police spokesperson Captain FC Van Wyk told News24. “The circumstances surrounding this incident are under investigation.”
The suspects quickly fled the scene after the shooting and no arrests have been made yet.
Local ward councillor Angus McKenzie believes the father and son were caught in a gang-related drive-by shooting while walking to their local shop.
2-year-old boy has died following a gang related shooting in Bonteheuwel in #CapeTown last night. Little Zhario Johnson and his father who was also killed last night, in an alleged gang cross fire last night. #crime #GangViolence #day69oflockdown #ChildProtection2020 pic.twitter.com/OuPdhmgQhr
— Wardāh Wilkinson (@WardahWilkinson) June 4, 2020
Gang-related incidents on the Cape Flats have increased this week.
On Monday [June 1] IOL reported that a 15-year-old boy named Dwayne Tyman from Hanover Park was shot and killed also in drive-by shooting. Tyman died in the backseat of a neighbour’s car while being rushed to hospital.
“We were in the yard by the fire because it was cold and then they started shooting on us. I was shot in my leg, but Dwayne died,” said Tyman’s cousin. Police are still investigating the shooting, no arrests have been made.
On the same day in Manenberg, three people were caught in the crossfire of a gang war, including a seven-year-old boy who was shot in his sleep. Young Toufiek Johnson was in bed when a stray bullet flew through the wendy house he lived in with his family, and struck him in the back.
“We saw the bullet did not come out and one of the neighbours took him to the hospital. The doctors told us it was stuck in his kidney and they can’t get it out,” Jonson’s father told IOL.
Hours later, Samuel Plaatjes (64) was walking home when gangsters once again opened fire and shot him in the buttocks and abdomen. While officers were still at the crime scene, more shots echoed through the neighbourhood. Residents later reported that a teenage girl in Madge Court was shot in the shoulder. She was quickly rushed to hospital to receive treatment.
“A number of SAPS units, local station police personnel and members of the Anti-Gang Unit are conducting raids in search of the perpetrators of the shooting incidents which left the two children and the male person wounded,” Brigadier Novelwa Potelwa said.
Image: Twitter/@WardahWilkinson