Durban – A 31-year-old man died after an unknown number of suspects opened fire spraying his vehicle with bullets at the Manning Avenue and Orthman Road intersection in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday.
Mi7 National Group director Colin David said on Thursday morning Mi7's Armed Response units responded to the scene of an alleged drive-by shooting incident.
David said it is believed suspects in an unknown vehicle opened fire on the driver of a VW before fleeing.
“The driver of the VW was shot dead, the vehicle ridden with bullets from an automatic assault rifle,” he said.
According to David there were no other occupants in the vehicle.
KwaZulu-Natal provincial police spokesperson Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo, said Mountain Rise police are investigating a case of murder.
“It is alleged that a 31-year-old man was fatally wounded by unknown suspects who fled in their getaway vehicle,” said Ngcobo.
Earlier this month, IOL reported that KZN police shot dead five suspected drug dealers and recovered drugs, firearms and money following an intelligence-driven operation in Durban on Saturday.
According to SAPS national spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, the men are part of a syndicate linked to a spate of shootings and drug-related crimes in the city.
Mathe stated in the report that police had arrested a suspected drug dealer earlier in the day.
She said the KZN SAPS anti-gang unit was searching for suspects linked to the murder of Brandon ‘Puff’ Kalicharan, his wife, Jeconiah Naidoo-Kalicharan and their nine-year-old daughter in Springfield, on March 21.
“They spotted a vehicle matching the description of the vehicle used in the commission of the crime.
“Following the arrest of the suspect who is currently in police custody, further investigation led the team to a premises in Morningside, Durban where five other suspected drug dealers were killed during a shoot-out with the police’s anti-gang unit. Five firearms including three rifles and two pistols, money and drugs worth an undisclosed amount of money have been seized by police,” Mathe said.