No arrests made in mass shooting in South Africa as death toll rises to 18

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Another person has died Mass shootings A fatal accident occurred at two homes on the same street in a South African village over the weekend, bringing the death toll to 18, officials said Monday.

Police are still searching for the attackers who opened fire on people who had reportedly gathered for a family event in the village of Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape province on Saturday.

The shootings, which occurred in two separate homes on the same street, sparked outrage over the country’s recent series of mass shootings.

The motive for the killings remains unknown and police said Monday that the investigation was ongoing and no arrests had been made.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned the killings and promised that the government would use all necessary resources to investigate.

He said Monday that 38 people were killed and 25 suspects were arrested in previous mass shootings over the past two years.

“I feel deeply for all the families and members of the wider community affected by this attack and on behalf of all of us as South Africans, I extend our deepest condolences,” he said.

“While we are united in our grief, we are also united in our outrage and condemnation of this excessive criminal assault, which will not go unpunished,” he said.

The shootings follow a mass killing in KwaZulu-Natal province in April 2023. Ten members of the same family, including seven women and a 13-year-old boy, were killed at their home.

Sixteen people were fatally shot at a bar in Johannesburg’s Soweto township in 2022, the worst mass shooting in South Africa in decades before the recent killings in Lusikisiki.

South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world. According to police figures, 12,734 homicides were registered in the first six months of this year.

___

News from AP Africa: https://apnews.com/hub/africa