Johannesburg - Four men have been charged with murder and attempted murder after an 11-year-old girl travelling home to Limpopo was shot dead and three other people were injured during a shootout at the Alexandra taxi rank.
The shootout on Friday afternoon was between a taxi queue marshal and three taxi drivers.
Police spokesman Warrant Officer Moses Maphakela told The Star the girl, whose identity has not been revealed, was killed when she got caught in the crossfire.
“Shots were fired and the young girl was hit in the head… she died on the scene,” he said.
Maphakela said a 16-year-old, an 18-year-old and one of the suspects were also injured during the shootout.
“One sustained a bullet wound to his back, one to his leg and the other to his hip.”
Gauteng police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said four suspects had been arrested at the scene following the shooting and two licensed firearms had been seized.
“It is alleged that the queue marshal had an argument with taxi drivers. They started shooting at each other and it resulted in the passengers being shot,” he said.
Three of the four suspects - Willy Mkhari, Calvin Shaku and Patrick Khumalo - made their first appearance in the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
The fourth suspect, Sello Molahloe was still in hospital.
Mkhari appeared separately from Shaku and Khumalo because it was still unclear whose weapon fired the bullet that killed the 11-year-old.
The suspects would remain in police custody until their bail hearing on Thursday.
Gauteng MEC for Community Safety Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane told The Star extra police had been deployed in Alexandra. “They will continue to monitor the area closely.”
Dlamini said police were continuing operations and investigations into the recent outbreak of taxi violence.
He said the taxi violence task team had detained four suspects over the weekend who had been involved in a number of taxi violence incidences last week.
“Three of these suspects were arrested following the investigation of an assault and attempted robbery in Olifantsfontein where a taxi queue marshal was attacked,” Dlamini said.
“The fourth suspect was arrested following an investigation of a shooting incident at Woodmead by a group of people driving in a convoy,” he said.
The Star