Cape Town -
Sitting in a stationary bakkie after being offered a lift to the shop ended in tragedy for 14-year-old Renee Gideon on Saturday night when she was killed during a drive-by shooting in Delft.
The Grade 8 pupil was in the vehicle with four others when men believed to be gangsters opened fire and killed her with a bullet to the head.
The shooting happened a few blocks from her home in Eindhoven.
Chanel Scholtz, 24, her aunt, said she was at home doing her hair when she heard gunshots.
“I was busy with my hair when I heard three shots and then a few more, it sounded like seven gunshots,” Scholtz said.
She added the family heard that Renee had been offered a lift to the shop, but was not a target.
“It was just unfortunate. It is a great shock because it was so sudden… she was such a happy person who liked to sing,” she said.
Renee’s mother, Delene Gideon, 42, said her daughter had asked to go to a 21st birthday party with a friend on Saturday night.
“She was with a friend on Saturday night and we were at home when we heard the news,” Gideon said.
“My neighbour’s boys came to knock on the door telling us that she had been shot.
“I just want to see her now. We were at the mortuary today but can only see her tomorrow.”
Gideon added that it was especially hard for Renee’s father to come to terms with her death.
“Her dad has taken it very hard, she was the youngest.”
The distraught mom said parents feared for their children after gang violence erupted in the area.
“A few weeks ago, a man was shot, and there have been several incidents,” she said.
“We fear for the safety of other children and don’t feel safe in the area anymore.”
A resident, who asked not to be named, said she saw men run across a field, shooting sporadically two weeks ago.
“Children cross the field to and from school every day; what would happen to them if gangsters are shooting?
“We are not part of the ‘numbers’ but innocent people get shot,” Gideon said despairingly.
The woman added that gang violence in Delft had started up a month ago.
On Sunday, a 34-year-old man was gunned down in Pinati Estate, next to Hanover Park, and in a separate incident a 22-year-old man from Hanover Park was killed and a six-year-old boy was wounded in crossfire.
Police said no arrests had been made.
Cape Argus