Durban - Nine-year-old Luyanda Kiki Dladla of northern KwaZulu-Natal died in a hail of bullets after going to fetch his friend to play a video game.
Phakamani Ndlovu and Nhlanhla Khumalo, both 29, of VQ Section in Wembezi, were also shot on Sunday afternoon at a neighbour’s shack.
The gunmen had allegedly been targeting Ndlovu.
Luyanda’s grieving father, Ntokozo Dladla, said his son, who was in Grade 6, had gone to visit a neighbour when he was shot.
The two boys were with Ndlovu and Khumalo when an unknown man arrived and started shooting.
“The shooter was shooting at the shack while they were all inside and when they ran out of the shack he (Luyanda) got shot,” Dladla told the Daily News yesterday.
“The attackers then ran to their getaway vehicle that had been parked not far away,” he said.
Dladla said Khumalo was shot inside the shack and Ndlovu outside while trying to escape.
He claimed Ndlovu had been accused of stealing a car in the area. “He had a feud with other people in the community. It is said (the assailants) had been looking for him.”
Wembezi is a volatile area where there have been several politically related murders. However, local ward councillor Sam Dladla – no relation to Luyanda – said this was not a politically related murder.
Police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane confirmed three males had been shot. “They were taken to hospital where they died on arrival.”
Wembezi police were investigating three counts of murder but there were no arrests yet, Zwane said.
Daily News