Four lives lost in Bishop Lavis mass shooting amid escalating gang violence

Bloodshed continued in Cape Town’s gang-plagued communities after four people, including an elderly woman, were gunned down in a house in Bishop Lavis on Friday night.

The mass killing comes amid a deadly spate of shootings across the Cape Flats over the past two weeks, with at least five mass shootings reported in Mitchells Plain, Kraaifontein, Mfuleni, and Lower Crossroads.

 Police spokesperson Lieutenant-General Malcolm Pojie confirmed that detectives from the Provincial Serious and Violent Crime Investigations and the Anti-Gang Unit have been tasked with investigating the Bishop Lavis killings.

“The incident claimed the lives of four adults — two women and two men — aged between 27 and 80 years old,” Pojie said.

“Preliminary information reveals that two unknown gunmen, who fled the scene in a VW Polo, accosted the four in a bedroom, opened fire, and fatally shot the deceased, who all succumbed to gunshot wounds to their upper bodies. Bishop Lavis SAPS registered four counts of murder.”

The motive for the attack has not been established and no arrests have been made.

The shooting occurred at around 7.15pm at a residence in Reënberg Street. Community leaders have described the incident as a further sign of the escalating violence gripping the area.

Chairperson of the Bishop Lavis Crime Prevention Forum (BLCPF), Graham Lindhorst, said the Forum “condemns in the strongest terms the mass shooting that took place”.

“All the victims were shot in a house in Reenberg Road, Bishop Lavis. This follows an attempted murder earlier in the afternoon, not far from there, and totally unrelated. The BLCPF sends our condolences to the families and friends of the deceased,” he said.

Lindhorst called for greater visibility by the police and urged the SAPS management to intervene urgently to restore stability.

“The BLCPF calls on the SAPS to increase visibility and to come forward with a plan that will deal with the gang flare-up currently in the Bishop Lavis precinct,” he said.

He also repeated the community’s demand for experienced officers to return to the area.

“We further reiterate our call on the SAPS management to bring back the two well-decorated and experienced officers they transferred from Bishop Lavis last year in September, or replace them with equally competent officers. We, as a community, are asking again: is the suffering of our community under violent crime not enough to warrant the attention and intervention of those who are mandated to keep the community safe?”

The Bishop Lavis killings are the latest in a wave of mass shootings that have rocked Cape Town. In Lower Crossroads earlier this week, nine young men, one of whom died, were shot by unknown suspects.

Police have urged anyone with information about the Bishop Lavis shooting to contact Crime Stop anonymously on 08600 10111 or via the MySAPS mobile application.

mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za