Cape Town - Video footage could help police track down Lieutenant-Colonel Charl Kinnear’s killer.
The Anti-Gang Unit section commander was killed outside his home in Bishop Lavis on Friday after police protection was stopped in December.
Now police are looking into offering protection to all high-ranking police under threat after Police Minister Bheki Cele apologised and admitted a failure to protect the top detective and his family. He said they would reinstate protection for the family in the days leading up to the 52-year-old’s funeral.
Colleagues and friends, including Major-General Jeremy Vearey, were at the house to pay their condolences to the family.
Vearey expressed his anger on social media over allegations in the Sunday Times against him and Kinnear, which he said put targets on their backs. The newspaper had to subsequently apologise.
Kinnear’s wife, Nicolette, said the family had lived in fear that those targeting her husband would use her or the children to get to him.
“I think that now that he is gone, the boys and I should be fine,” she said.
Their eldest son, Carlisle Kinnear, said: “My last conversation with him was 30 seconds before he was shot. He phoned me to pull my car out of the driveway, he was standing there waiting for me,” he said.
“It is heartbreaking. He didn’t deserve it. He fought for everything. The ugly picture I have of him is gruesome.”
Carlisle said the family were working on finalising funeral arrangements, but would have a memorial service on Wednesday.
“I’m not angry at the police. Yes, it hurts as there are questions on why the guards were removed, but it’s too late now.
“My dad ran his race, I salute him and I’m proud of him. I just wouldn’t want this to happen to anyone, not to his team or any other SAPS member.
“What I would remember the most about my dad would be his hard work and determination, that describes him completely.
“My mom made an example to say no matter where we were, we knew if that phone rang we came second to his job and we accepted it.”
“This is a quiet neighbourhood with a few police and law enforcement members living here so there are plenty of cameras and I’m sure one of them picked up something that could help police,” said one of the neighbours.
Kinnear’s house has three visible cameras mounted on the wall with two of them facing the direction where his car was parked at the time of his shooting.