Karabo Rammutla
At first residents thought the shooting last Tuesday was related to taxi violence because it happened at a taxi rank.
Thugs randomly fired shots at the Itireleng squatter camp outside Laudium in Tshwane, leaving one woman injured.
Then on Wednesday evening the trigger-happy gang struck again.
Businessman Amit Jadeja, 46, from Laudium, who was dropping off his staff members at the entrance of the squatter camp, was shot and killed.
A relative of Jadeja said the Nissan Grand Livina Jadeja was travelling in was attacked.
“We heard that a number of thugs approached their vehicle and smashed the windows. The driver managed to get away and these thugs started firing at the moving vehicle, hitting Amit,” he said.
The driver drove straight to Kalafong Hospital where Jadeja was certified dead on arrival.
Resident Tumelo Mashishi said the random shootings have forced everyone to live in fear.
Mashishi was at the taxi rank when the first incident occurred.
“It was so sudden. I was having a conversation with a colleague walking to a taxi when it started. We hid inside a vetkoek stall and listened as shots were fired,” he said.
He said when people started screaming he knew the shooting had stopped.
“It was chaos. I ran back home without looking back. Now when I go to the taxi rank I must look all over the place for suspicious-looking people.
“If only we knew what the gang wanted or who they are after. Speculation and fear have gripped us,” said Mashishi.
Gauteng Police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Sello said cases of attempted murder and murder have been opened for further investigations.
“In both cases the motive of the shooting is unknown and no suspects have been arrested,” she said.
