The head of a family of 10 that was gunned down in Imbali, Pietermaritzburg early on Friday morning was shot and killed in broad daylight in 2022, according to one of the neighbours who spoke to Sunday World.
The neighbour, who chose to remain anonymous, told Sunday World that the man was shot in front of his wife, one of the victims in the gruesome attack on Friday.
“I am not aware if this family is linked to any dealings that could make them a target to gunmen, but their father was killed in broad daylight in 2022. He was killed in front of his now deceased wife,” said the neighbour.
“The killings that happened in the early hours of Friday morning are not a norm, however, we do experience break-ins on a regular basis, but no one is brutally murdered like this.”
The neighbour detailed that the community stayed indoors when the shots went off, one after the other.
“We heard loud screams and crying, but because of fear nobody went out to rescue them.”
The neighbour said due to loadshedding at kwaMemela household, it was very dark when the first shots rang out at about 3am.
According to witnesses who rushed to the scene after the sound of guns had stopped, the deceased were shot in close range in their heads.
The neighbour said the community is living in constant fear that a similarly attack might be repeated, saying they counted 10 or more gun shots when the family was massacred.
“I do not think that police officials have implemented anything to ensure our safety as a community, we are living in fear and we are in limbo about which family could be next, as the motive for the mass shooting is yet to be discovered.”
Police confirmed that eight women and two men lost their lives when armed men stormed their home and sprayed them with bullets.
Later in the day Police Minister Bheki Cele, who visited the crime scene with national police commissioner General Fannie Masemola, confirmed that one of the suspected murderers was shot dead by the police, another injured, two arrested, while a fifth suspect managed to escape.
The Friday mass murder brought to 14 the number of people murdered in KwaZulu-Natal between Thursday and Friday last week.
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