Five suspects, aged between 23 and 46, have been taken into custody in KwaZulu-Natal in connection with the mass shooting that took place on Sunday in the Nyezane neighbourhood of Amangwe in Estcourt.
According to a police spokesperson in the province, Colonel Robert Netshiunda, four people were shot and killed during the incident, while one person was wounded and injured.
The ages of the victims who passed away are 45, 57, 60, and 61.
A police operation on Monday afternoon in Ladysmith’s Acaciaville discovered the suspects’ cooling-off location.
Two AK-47 assault rifles with 115 rounds of ammunition, two handguns with 12 rounds of ammunition, a 38 special revolver with one round of ammunition, and a car concealed inside a room were discovered in their possession.
According to Netshiunda, one of the guns found belonged to a man who was killed in the mass shooting on Sunday.
Traditional celebration
“Investigations also led the police to a house at Ezakheni, where another firearm was recovered,” he said.
“The recovered firearms will be taken for ballistic testing to ascertain if they are linked to other crime scenes in and around the province.”
The suspects will be taken to Estcourt to face several murder charges after they appear in the Ladysmith magistrate’s court on Wednesday on charges of unlawfully possessing firearms and ammunition.
Three people were shot and killed when six heavily armed criminals broke into a farmstead during a traditional celebration, according to the police.
Two more people were injured, and one of them died from his wounds.
The suspects could not be identified because they were wearing masks, but a brief intelligence-based investigation led to the arrest of a 28-year-old suspect who was receiving treatment at a local hospital after being found with a gunshot wound on his chest and a broken arm.
In the meantime, Thamsanqa Ntuli, the KwaZulu-Natal premier, paid a visit to the relatives of the four victims who died and the one who survived the mass shooting in Estcourt.
