South African bar shooting leaves 11 dead

At least 11 people, including three children, were killed in a mass shooting at a bar in a town near Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital, police said.

According to the statement made by the South African Police Service, 14 more people were injured and taken to hospital.

Police did not provide detailed information about the ages of those injured.

#sapsHQ [SAULSVILLE UPDATE] 25 were shot, 11 dead, 14 survived and all are in hospital. #SAPS has launched a manhunt for three unknown suspects. Among the dead are three children, a 3- and 12-year-old boy and a 16-year-old woman. The rest of the dead… pic.twitter.com/mQLtrp7q2N — SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) December 6, 2025

The attack occurred in the early hours of Saturday at an unlicensed bar in the town of Saulsville, west of Pretoria.

Local media reported that the bar was inside a hostel.

Among the children killed were a 3-year-old boy, a 12-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl.

Police reported that 3 suspects were sought.

South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, with more than 26,000 murders recorded in 2024; This is an average of over 70 per day.

Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.

Officials say the country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many murders are committed with illegal weapons.

There have been a number of mass shootings in bars, sometimes called shebeens or taverns, in South Africa in recent years; these include an incident in Johannesburg’s Soweto district in 2022 that resulted in the deaths of 16 people.

Police said 18 people, including 15 women, were killed in mass shootings at two separate houses on the same road in rural Eastern Cape province in September last year.

A man has been charged with 18 counts of murder after allegedly shooting the victims with an AK-style assault rifle.