Cape Town - The employees of a nightclub were shocked after a man died, apparently after he shot himself during an altercation with his girlfriend early on Sunday.
The shooting was outside Club Coco on Loop Street. A witness who asked not to be named said the shooter was forced to leave the building after he insisted on taking back his gun from the staff members.
A club employee said: “When he came to the establishment he had a gun. He told us about it and we asked him to take the magazine out and all the ammunition he had, then we kept it in the safe.”
The employee said that a while later he heard that the 24-year-old was fighting to get his gun back.
“At the time he had just had a heated argument with his girlfriend and I wasn’t aware. I called him to the side and told him to stop fighting and just go home and have an argument when he is sober enough.
“He then turned on me and insisted on getting his gun. I tried to make him understand that whatever he wanted to do was not worth it and that they should go home and resolve their problems.
“I left him, and one of the bouncers forced him to go outside.”
The shocked man told the Cape Argus the club patron was given the gun.
“We ended up giving him the gun and no ammunition because we were scared of what he might do.
“He went outside again with the bouncer and his girlfriend.”
The witness said he was outside when he heard a loud bang.
“I was explaining to the CCID officer what the fight was about.
“I was facing away from the 24-year-old, his girlfriend and the bouncer. I thought things were fine at the time.
“I heard a loud gunshot, and when I looked back, I saw him falling to the ground. I wasn’t sure who was shot and who was hit, because the last I checked the man didn’t have ammunition.”
The Club Coco employee said the man was barely clinging to life when he was taken to hospital.
When the Cape Argus team arrived at the scene, the victim’s emotional brother arrived and took away the girlfriend who had blood stains on her face, hands and hair, and they rushed to the hospital.
At the scene where the man shot himself was a jacket and blue latex gloves.
Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said: “The circumstances surrounding the shooting incident yesterday morning at about 7.50am on the corner of Loop and Hout streets, Cape Town, where a 24-year-old man was shot and fatally wounded are under investigation.
“Cape Town Central police attended the crime scene where they found the victim with a gunshot wound to his head. The victim was taken to a medical facility where he later died.
“An inquest was registered for investigation.”
Anyone with any information about this shooting was kindly requested to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111.