麻豆传媒

Skip to main content

17 people have been killed in 2 mass shootings in the same town in South Africa

Seventeen people were killed in two mass shootings that took place in close proximity to each other Friday night in Lusikisiki, South Africa, police said Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (South African Police Services via AP) Seventeen people were killed in two mass shootings that took place in close proximity to each other Friday night in Lusikisiki, South Africa, police said Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (South African Police Services via AP)
Share
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -

Seventeen people, including 15 women, were killed in two mass shootings that took place in close proximity to each other in a rural town in South Africa, police said Saturday.

A search was underway for the suspects, national police spokesperson Brig. Athlenda Mathe said in a statement. The victims were 15 women and two men, she said. One other person was in critical condition in the hospital.

The shootings took place Friday night in the town of Lusikisiki in Eastern Cape province in southeastern South Africa. Video released by police showed that the shootings occurred at two houses in the same neighborhood, which is a collection of rural homesteads on the outskirts of the town.

Twelve women and a man were killed in one house and three women and a man were killed in the other house, police said.

Four women, one man and a 2-month-old baby survived.

鈥淎 manhunt has been launched to apprehend those behind these heinous killings,鈥 Mathe said.

Local media reported that the people were attending a family gathering at the time of the shooting, but the motive for the killings remains unknown.

Police minister Senzo Mchunu told a media briefing on Saturday that a team of detectives and forensic experts had been deployed.

鈥淲e have full faith and confidence in the team that has been deployed to crack this case and find these criminals. Either they hand themselves over or we will fetch them ourselves,鈥 Mchunu said.

South Africa, a country of 62 million, recorded 12,734 homicides in the first six months of this year, according to official crime statistics from the police. That鈥檚 an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the biggest cause of deaths in those cases.

Mass shootings have become increasingly common in recent years, sometimes targeting people in their homes

Ten members of the same family, including seven women and a 13-year-old boy, were killed in a mass shooting at their home in the neighboring KwaZulu-Natal province in April 2023.

Firearm laws are reasonably strict in South Africa, but authorities have often pointed to the large number of illegal, unregistered guns in circulation as a major problem.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

The CEO of the Ottawa Mission is responding to controversial comments made this week by Premier Doug Ford about those living in homeless encampments that received swift blowback from advocates.

Local Spotlight

A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.

When a group of B.C. filmmakers set out on a small fishing boat near Powell River last week, they hoped to capture some video for a documentary on humpback whales. What happened next blew their minds.

A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.

Sarah McLachlan is returning to her hometown of Halifax in November.

Wayne MacKay is still playing basketball twice at Mount Allison University at 87 years old.

A man from a small rural Alberta town is making music that makes people laugh.

An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.

An ordinary day on the job delivering mail in East Elmwood quickly turned dramatic for Canada Post letter carrier Jared Plourde. A woman on his route was calling out in distress.