'I covered myself in bed and listened in fear as gunshots went on'

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Cape Town – Two Elsies River mothers are in a critical condition in hospital and their children dead after suspected gangsters forced their way into their wendy house in the middle of the night and opened fire. Toslin Samuels, 10, and his sister MJ Samuels, 12, were shot and killed along with friend Adrian Alexander, 12, and Vineto Africa, 19, on Tuesday night at their Clarke Estate home. Mandy Samuels, 33, and Brenda Alexander, 30, were critically wounded in the incident. The shooting is now suspected to be gang-related as it is believed that Africa was a known gang member and the target of the attack. However, the children were in the room with him at the time and the alleged suspects “killed them as they would be witnesses”, neighbours said. Provincial police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said three suspects, aged 27, 30 and 36, were arrested within hours of the shooting, which happened at about 11pm.

The latest atrocity followed a day after President Cyril Ramaphosa gave the green light for a six-month extension for the SANDF, which has been ordered to patrol gang-infested areas across the province with the aim of maintaining stability.

A 34-year-old neighbour whose name is being withheld for fear of reprisals said she was sleeping at around 10.30pm when she heard people talking outside. The voices were followed by a bang, which was the sound of the door being kicked open, she said.

“I covered myself in bed and listened in fear as gunshots went on for a while.

“Then it was quiet for a while before I heard footsteps of people running. I knew it was the perpetrators fleeing the scene, but I was still fearful to go out and check what had happened,” she said.

When the woman heard one of the mothers crying out for help, saying her child was dead, she went to check on what had happened.

“When I got there all the children were dead and their mothers were injured.

“Mandy ran to the block of flats behind us where their relatives stay. The relatives say when they opened the door for Mandy she just said the children are dead, fell on her stomach and collapsed.”

The woman said being a single parent of two in a kill-zone area was torture.

For Joyce Wright, 63, the death of her granddaughter MJ opened old wounds as she also lost her son, MJ’s father, five years ago in a gang shooting.

“I was sleeping and I heard someone screaming outside. When I checked through my window there was a girl that I don’t know who said she was told to come and tell me MJ is lying dead, they have shot her.

"Still in disbelief, I sat on the bed and tried to process what I had heard.”

Wright, who stays a street away from her grandchild, said two of her friends came and took her to the scene. Police refused to let her in the house at that stage.

“At that point I knew it was true, she was really gone. I had to go to Tygerberg mortuary and see her body.

“I don’t have any more goodbyes left in me. I just can’t do it any more,” she said.

Furious residents and schools in the area staged a protest yesterday, claiming that if the SANDF was stationed there the incident could have been prevented.

Police Minister Bheki Cele commended the Anti-Gang Unit on the swift arrest and recovery of the gun following the incident.

Cele said the justice, crime prevention and security cluster was meeting to review the army’s deployment strategy and operations in order to bring peace and stability to communities.

Cape Times