Cape Town - A woman returning to work after maternity leave has been shot dead in a taxi in morning traffic.
A man was also killed in the attack which took place at 8.15am on Tuesday.
On the scene this morning, Graeme Petersen, who works for the City of Cape Town, identified the woman who was shot dead in a taxi on Concert Boulevard in Retreat, shortly after 8am on Tuesday.
“I was called by my wife, and I came straight here,” he told the Cape Argus at the scene.
“She’s my cousin, Leslyn Mentor, and she was 26. She works at Pick n Pay in Plumstead and it was her first day back at work after maternity leave.”
His cousin had recently given birth to a baby girl, and lived with her mother in Lavender Hill.
“She was sitting right behind the driver and she was shot through the head and her cheek,” Petersen said.
His wife, Margaret, said: “She was full of fun, talkative. She was so excited to have a baby girl.”
Rush-hour traffic ground to a halt on Tuesday as gunfire erupted on Concert Boulevard in Retreat, which runs between the Main Road and the M5 arterial routes.
The Western Cape’s Emergency Medical Services no other passengers had been injured in the shooting, and police were investigating the incident.
A witness, who asked that her name not be used out of fear of reprisal, said: “I was coming down from the station side, on Concert Boulevard, after dropping my kids, just after 8am.
“Then I saw a commotion in the road. The police had also just arrived, so I moved out of the way. I saw they had shot a woman. I could see her blood – and that she wasn’t moving.
“There was then also another body lying in front of the taxi. “I was traumatised, it’s terrible...”
Another witness said: “
The man was lying on his seat and the woman was still sitting upright.
“I think about 13 shots were fired straight through the windscreen... It looked like a real war zone.”
Cape Argus