Cape Town - A seven-year-old boy who was to start Grade 1 on Wednesday is in hospital after being shot while walking to school.
The boy and a 17-year-old were walking near Marion High School, next to Holy Trinity Primary in Elsies River at about 7.40am, when a “a taxi stopped and a gunman, known to police as a gang member, got out and opened fire”, said police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Andrè Traut.
The Grade 1 pupil was shot in the hand and the teenager in the hip
The teenager, who has also been admitted to hospital, was allegedly the intended target.
Traut said the seven-year-old was “at the wrong place at the wrong time”.
Shortly after the incident the boy and the teenager were taken to Tygerberg Hospital.
No arrests had been made by publication time on Wednesday.
* Sapa reports that five children aged between eight and 12 were injured in a car crash in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday morning, paramedics said.
The five were being transported to school on the back of a bakkie when its brakes apparently failed on Edendale Road, causing it to collide with a sedan, ER24 spokeswoman Luyanda Majija said.
“The children were treated for minor injuries and transported to Medi-Clinic Pietermaritzburg and other hospitals for further care.”
The drivers of the vehicles were not injured.
Cape Argus