The seven members of the family, aged between 5 and 55, were killed in their home in KwaZulu-Natal province in eastern South Africa. The motive is not yet known.
Seven dead, all members of the same family. That’s the toll of the tragedy that occurred in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, in eastern South Africa. For the local police, not at all: it was a prepared “execution”.
According to the latter, the youngest of the victims shot dead on Wednesday September 11 in the rural area of Highflats, about 80km from the coastal city of Durban, was a 5-year-old boy and the oldest was a 55-year-old woman.
South Africa and the scourge of homicides
The killers gained entry by forcing a family member who was outside the home to knock on the door and have it opened. They rushed inside, while the family was watching television, and opened fire immediately, police said.
“We police are convinced that this is an execution. This is a planned murder,” provincial police chief Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi told reporters.
Outside the victims’ homes, the latter said the motive was unknown at this time. Some victims appeared to have been shot in the head while lying on the ground, added Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, specifying that in total “about 25 bullets were fired.”
South Africa has one of the highest peacetime homicide rates per capita in the world. About 6,200 people were murdered in the country in the second quarter of 2024, according to police figures released in August.
