A police officer turned a firearm on himself after a shooting spree which left four wounded. Among the victims was his daughter, 6.
|||Mossel Bay - A Mossel Bay police officer on Monday turned a firearm on himself after a shooting spree which left four people wounded. Among the victims was his six-year-old daughter.
Sergeant Annesh Bootram, 36, reported for duty at Kwanonqaba Police Station at 6pm on Sunday.
“It is believed that shortly after parade he departed to the residence of Constable Evelyn Pienaar [his ex-girlfriend], who resides within the Da Gamaskop policing precinct,” said police spokesman Captain Malcolm Pojie. “He went to her flat, where a quarrel ensued… shots were fired, of which several bullets hit Pienaar. Her mother, six-year-old daughter as well as a friend sustained bullet wounds.”
Pojie said an inquest docket and four charges of attempted murder were being investigated.
“Further investigation reveals that he [Bootram] walked down the corridor of the flat, turned the firearm on himself and pulled the trigger. He sustained one fatal wound to the head and died on the scene.”
The four injured victims were transported to the Bay View Hospital for treatment.
Pienaar, who sustained several bullet wounds to her body and legs, needed emergency surgery. By Monday, all the victims except Pienaar had been discharged from hospital.
John Blou, Bootram’s friend and colleague, described Bootram as a gentle person who was popular with all of his colleagues: “You could chat to him for hours without getting bored. He was the kind of guy that would always be willing to help you out.”
Blou added, however, that Bootram had been through a difficult time after his break up with Pienaar, who he “still loved very much”, around a month ago. Pienaar was the mother of Bootram’s two children – an infant and the six-year-old girl.
The question of custody and the possibility of it being settled in court apparently weighed heavily on Bootram’s mind. Bootram had no family or support structure in the Western Cape, and had turned to Blou as an emotional confidant.
“I don’t know what happened at Pienaar’s home on Sunday, but I can’t believe that the he went over there with the intention to hurt them,” Blou said.
“Something dramatic must have occurred to have triggered him off.”
Blou added that the working conditions for officers at Kwanonqaba were particularly dire and stressful.
He said that he was commenting in his capacity as a Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) official.
Western Cape Community Policing Forum board chairperson, Hanif Loonat, said: “We sometimes forget about the incredible stress under which our SAPS officers have to conduct their work.
“We need to provide support for them, and look after their psychological well-being.
“Police have to be ready for being the target of an attack at any time during a routine patrol. When you function under that sort pressure on a daily basis, it can become possible that the slightest thing can trigger you to do something that is unacceptable… like turning your gun on innocent people.”
daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za
Cape Argus