Young woman wounded in gang crossfire days before her 21st birthday

Michelle, 21, was hit by a stray bullet in Manenberg.

Michelle, 21, was hit by a stray bullet in Manenberg.

Published Jun 4, 2020

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Cape Town - A young woman from Manenberg is spending her 21st birthday in hospital today after she was hit by a stray bullet as heartless gangsters opened fire on Madge Court.

Panic spread across Manenberg on Monday morning as Michelle Louwfkieter ran out of her grandmother’s flat screaming in pain as a bullet went straight through her bedroom window and struck her in the shoulder.

Grandmother Sybil, 62, says Michelle came into the room and saw her nephew and his friend looking out of the window when the shooting started.

“She just told them to get away from the window and the bullet came through the window and hit her. The neighbours rushed her to hospital and she went for surgery,” says Sybil.

Michelle Louwfkieter

“She can’t move her arm and is in pain and on Thursday is her 21st birthday.

“We were going to have a small lunch for her because she is a supportive child who really helps me around the house.”

Neighbour Shahied Angus, 45, says he was standing downstairs when he heard Michelle screaming.

He and men in the court rushed to carry her down three flights of stairs and took her to the Heideveld Emergency Centre.

Michelle Louwfkieter's grandmother Sybil.

Michelle was the third person to be shot in Manenberg.

The first victim was Toufiek Johnson, seven, who was shot in the back while sleeping in his parents’ wendy house.

Dad Gershwen said yesterday: “The bullet split in his body and one piece was in the kidney and one piece in the intestine. They removed the piece in the intestine and he is healing.”.

Police say no arrests have been made as yet.

Daily Voice

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