Durban — Community members allegedly shot dead an armed man who attacked a pupil at Embizweni High School in uMlazi F section, on Thursday.
According to a witness, two suspects, one a former pupil at the school, forced their way inside the school premises to attack a male pupil with whom they had an “ongoing beef”.
“After forcing their way inside the school, they had an altercation with the pupil and then took the fight outside the gate. We managed to stop the fight. Then they went away. After a while, they came back still looking for the pupil and the driver fired gunshots in the air,’’ said the witness.
Embizweni School Governing Body chairperson Marie Sokhela said community members intervened after two suspects attacked pupils inside the school.
“When we arrived on the scene, one of the suspects was already dead, what we heard is that one of the suspects had a gun and he fired gunshots. Then the community came to find out what was going on in the school.
“They then clashed with the suspects and one of the suspects died and the other is in hospital,’’ said Sokhela.
Sokhela revealed that the dead suspect was a pastor and he died inside the car the men were driving not far from the school.
“The suspect that died is a pastor from C section, I know him he was a good man. I never heard anything dodgy about him until today’s incident.’’
Sokhela further said that they didn’t know who had killed the suspect. They were told that there were community members chasing the suspects after they attacked pupils.
KZN SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala alleged that two pupils had a fight and one of the pupils left. Suddenly, a vehicle with two males arrived at a school in F Section, uMlazi.
“The males were spinning the vehicle and allegedly fired shots in the air. While they were exiting the gate, they were allegedly shot by an unknown male. A driver aged 40 sustained gunshot wounds and his vehicle crashed into guard rails at Mandla Madlopha Road. The driver was declared dead at the scene while the passenger fled the scene. Charges of murder and discharging of a firearm were opened at uMlazi SAPS,’’ said Gwala.
Crime analyst and senior researcher from the Institute for Security Studies Dr Johan Burger said incidents of vigilantism raise questions of the unlawfulness in KZN and they were becoming more common.
When the Daily News arrived at the scene, the pupils had left and there was a meeting at the school about the incident. The school will have another meeting with parents on Sunday.
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