A Tafelsig mother and her 4-year-old child were shot and injured in a suspected gang-related drive-by shooting which left a relative dead.
The shooting occurred just 10 kilometres from the home of the Western Cape government’s newly appointed MEC for Community Safety and Police Oversight, Reagan Allen, who plans to halve the murder rate through the province’s safety plan.
But this plan is a long way off for Tafelsig residents who yesterday had to run for cover when the occupants of a vehicle opened a volley of fire on three people standing on Langeberg Avenue. Stray bullets hit and injured Laverne Micheals, 29, and her son Rayvvon, 4, and killed a relative.
Police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut said Anti-Gang Unit detectives were investigating cases of murder and attempted murder.
“A grey Hyundai SUV with male occupants opened fire at the three victims and fled the scene. They are yet to be arrested. The mother and child were admitted to hospital,” he said.
Yesterday evening Micheals was discharged from hospital after receiving treatment for a gunshot wound to the shoulder while her son Rayvvon was operated on at the Red Cross Children’s
Hospital to remove the bullet lodged in his stomach.
Michaels’ mother Roslyn Faroa said she was not home at the time of the incident and returned to hear about the shooting.
“When I came home everyone ran to me to tell me what happened. I saw there was a big commotion and they told me my daughter and her child had been shot and taken to hospital.”
Faroa said she rushed to Mitchells Plain Hospital where her daughter was receiving treatment.
“She said that the car drove by and that they were shot by people from the car. When she realised what was happening, she grabbed the child but by then it was too late because the bullets had been fired in close succession,” she said.
Faroa said she was puzzled by the shooting because to her knowledge none of her relatives were involved in gangs.
“There are no gangsters in the family. If there were, I wouldn’t hide it. As I told the detectives, she is not a problem child,” she said.
Michaels’ 10-year old twin sons Rowen and Owen were nearby when the shots rang out.
Rowen said he knew he had to “lie down on the floor”, a habit residents said children had to learn.
Allen, who grew up in Mitchells Plain, said he was all too familiar with the dangers residents lived with on a daily basis. He said when he was 18, someone approached him and told him that he could die if he continued living there. “So I’m familiar (with the dangers). There’s family members I lost due to gang violence. I’ve seen the effects of drug abuse, how it can destroy a family and society, so I want to make that difference. It was never about my position, it’s about how we can bring about change, where people can meaningfully see that their lives can change.”
He said the high levels of violent crime experienced by most residents in the province was one of his department’s most serious and complex challenges. “Safety, or the lack thereof, deeply affects our residents’ lives, from their ability to participate and thrive in the economy, to move about freely without fear, to attend school and recreational activities, to access government services, or to feel safe and supported inside their own homes.”
It was for this reason that he was determined to deliver on Premier Alan Winde’s commitment to reduce the province’s murder rate.
“The Western Cape Safety Plan boosts law enforcement capacity in our least safe neighbourhoods, but also seeks to address the root causes of crime, and of violent crime more specifically, in our society.
We will be looking at violence prevention, and working together with the MEC of health and wellness, because we know violence prevention is medium to long term.
“We will focus on evidence based and data-led matters, because if we know where murders are happening and resources need to be deployed then we will be able to see the effect, ”Allen said.
