11 suspects arrested for Bekkersdal mass shooting

Eleven suspects have been arrested in connection with the Bekkersdal mass shooting, which claimed the lives of 10 people in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Earlier this week, Gauteng acting police commissioner Maj-Gen Fred Kekana said a multidisciplinary team of police, which included crime intelligence, arrested two men identified as possible suspects behind the shooting. On Wednesday, he said the first two suspects arrested led authorities to a safe house where the remaining suspects were arrested.

“We managed to find nine suspects, and we found them in possession of four pistols. The house where they were hiding belongs to [a] mine, and the mine employee was allocated the house by the mine. He was also arrested, for harbouring undocumented people and possibly defeating the ends of justice,” Kekana said.

Nine of the arrested men are Lesotho nationals, one is from Mozambique, while the 11th person – who is alleged to have been harbouring them – is a South African.

Kekana said the firearms will be taken for ballistic analysis, which will indicate whether they were used during the shooting on Sunday.

Initial police reports indicated that a group of about 12 armed men stormed into the KwaNoxolo tavern in Bekkersdal in the early hours of Sunday and randomly opened fire on patrons.

Some of the victims were shot in the street while attempting to flee the attack. An e-hailing driver who had just dropped off a client was shot dead by the gunmen as they were fleeing the scene.

TimesLIVE