12 People Killed, Including 3 Children, In Mass Shooting At South African Bar
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — At least 12 people were killed Saturday in a mass shooting by multiple suspects at an unlicensed bar near South Africa’s capital, police said. Among the victims were three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
13 people were injured and were treated in hospital. The police did not provide detailed information about the ages and health conditions of those injured.
Police changed the death toll after announcing that the 12th victim died in hospital.
The attack took place in the bar inside a hostel in the town of Saulsville, west of the administrative capital Pretoria, in the early hours of Saturday. Police said 10 of the victims died at the scene and the other two died at the hospital.
Among the children killed were a 3-year-old boy, a 12-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl. Police said they are looking for three male suspects.
“We were told that at least three unidentified gunmen entered this hostel, where a group of people were drinking, and started shooting randomly,” police spokesman Brig. Athlenda Mathe told national broadcaster SABC. He said the reason for the murders is not yet clear. He said the clashes took place around 4.15am but police were only notified at 6am.
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, with more than 26,000 murders recorded in 2024; That’s an average of more than 70 per day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
Authorities say the country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many murders are committed with illegal weapons.
In recent years, there have been a number of mass shootings in bars, sometimes called shebeens or taverns, in South Africa. Killed 16 people in Johannesburg’s Soweto district In 2022. On the same day, 4 people lost their lives in a mass shooting at a bar in another province.
Mathe said mass shootings at unlicensed bars had become a serious problem, and police closed down more than 11,000 illegal taverns and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in the sale of illegal liquor between April and September this year.
However, the recent mass murders in South Africa are not limited to bars. Police said 18 people, including 15 women, were killed in mass shootings that took place minutes apart at two houses on the same road in rural Eastern Cape province in September last year.
Seven people have been arrested in connection with these shootings and face multiple murder charges, while police have seized three AK-style assault rifles they believe were used in the shootings.
