Vivian Warby
The lieutenant who killed six soldiers and a female civilian defence force employee and injured five others at the Tempe Military Base in Bloemfontein on Thursday morning had recently been absent without leave (AWOL).
The 28-year-old soldier, who was killed when South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members returned fire, is believed to have returned to the base at 1 SA Infantry Battalion shortly before going on the shooting orgy with his R-4 rifle.
He was unmarried and lived in the base barracks.
"He went from office to office at the base, shooting anyone who came in his way," said police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Johlene van der Merwe.
The area resembled a scene from a war movie after the early-morning shooting, as critically injured soldiers lay writhing in pain next to their dead colleagues.
"The soldiers were on their way to a shooting practice. This is why they were armed with R-4 rifles.
"We don't usually carry weapons around the base," said Lieutenant Emoret Serfontein, speaking for the Free State SANDF.
The lieutenant allegedly walked into the battalion headquarters at about 9am and opened fire, before walking through to the personnel department, still shooting.
No clear answers could be given on Thursday as to whether the gunman had faced disciplinary action before the shooting because of his having been AWOL.
Serfontein said police investigations are under way and the circumstances surrounding the shooting are unclear.
A special investigating team has been appointed to probe the incident.
Mosiuoa Lekota, the minister of defence, visited One SA Infantry Battalion and spoke to unit members on Thursday, giving them words of encouragement and explaining to them what had happened.
Lekota also visited some of the injured soldiers in Bloemfontein's 3 Military Hospital.
The surviving members of the unit gathered on the parade grounds after the shooting, where they were debriefed by psychologists.
"There is still a sense of shock around," said Serfontein. "He shot whoever came in his way."
A policeman who was on the scene shortly after the shooting said: "It was not a nice thing to see. There were so many people killed. There was so much blood. It is a big, big tragedy."
Earlier on Thursday, there was speculation that the shooting may have been racially motivated, as all the black lieutenant's victims were white.
"There hasn't been any racial tension at the base. It is well integrated," said another SANDF spokesperson.
There had apparently been nothing to indicate that such a violent incident would take place.
There was tight security around the base last night.
Those killed were Major Jacques Coetzer, 31, Warrant Officer Reg Sieberhagen, 38, Warrant Officer Johan Lombard, 49, Staff Sergeant Doughie Douglas, 30, Sergeant Willie Nell , 27 and Sergeant Tertius Lombard, 26, all from Bloemfontein.
Civilian Marita Hamilton, 57, who was employed by the military, was also killed.
All the deceased, except for Sieberhagen and Hamilton, were married.
Major Zirk Coetsee, who was shot in the chest, was in a serious condition. He underwent an emergency operation at Pelonomi Hospital.
Major Wiehan van Noordwyk was also shot in the chest but was in a stable condition on Thursday night, according to Van der Merwe.
The other three soldiers injured - Captain Johan de Jager, whose head was grazed by a bullet; Warrant Officer Aldo Mattheus, shot in the leg; and Captain Jan-Harm Steenkamp, who was shot in the shoulder - were all in a stable condition at 3 Military Hospital on Thursday night.
According to Jane's Defence Weekly southern Africa correspondent Helmoed-Romer Heitman, discipline in the SANDF is not what it has been in the past for a number of reasons.
One is that courts martial have been outlawed, and another is that middle-ranking officers, often white, do not want to step on anyone's toes for fear of discipline being misconstrued as racism.
Heitman added that he had visited One SA Infantry Battalion a short while ago and found that "there was certainly nothing wrong with discipline".