Cape Town – A 15-year-old boy from Hanover Park is dead after gangsters opened fire on a group of children on Thursday night as they stood around a fire to keep warm.
The heartbroken family of Dwayne Tyman, 15, say they feel helpless as trigger-happy gangsters continue to terrorise the community.
Mom Beulah, 33, says she got a fright when she heard her son and two other teens had been shot in a drive-by shooting and rushed to the hospital where, sadly, he died before she arrived.
The Grade 10 learner from Groenvlei High School passed away in the backseat of a neighbour’s car after he was wounded in the chest and the abdomen.
Dwayne’s 15-year-old cousin, who cannot be named, says they gathered at the home of a friend on Thursday night and stood around a fire in the yard when they were hit by a hail of bullets.
“We were in the yard by the fire because it was cold and then they started shooting on us. I was shot in my leg, but Dwayne died.”
A 16-year-old girl, who was walking home at the time of the incident, says she saw a grey Mercedes-Benz drive slowly up the road before the shooting started.
“They were wearing caps and masks and their eyes were deep in their heads. They just started shooting at everyone.”
The girl ran home and the three shot teens were rushed to Heideveld Day Hospital.
Police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut confirmed the shooting and says the incident is under investigation with no arrests yet.
Beulah says no words can describe the loss of her fun-loving, first-born son, who she worked hard to raise in the gang-ridden Cape Flats community.
“I was working the night shift when they called me and told me,” the mother says.
“I left work and rushed to Heideveld, but they told me Dwayne died in the car. He was a funny child and he teased me a lot.”
She urged authorities to do more to stop the gangsters.
“The president is worried about petty goetes(stuff). This Covid-19 is serious, but the cops are worried about entjies(cigarettes) and wyn(wine) as opposed to people’s lives, and gangsters that just shoot as they want,” says the angry mom.