A boy, 12, was shot dead in Mitchells Plain on Christmas Day after buying a packet of tik at a known drug den in the area.
|||Cape Town - A boy, 12, was shot dead in Tafelsig in Mitchells Plain on Christmas Day after buying a packet of tik at a known drug den in the area.
A self-confessed drug dealer, Walied “Wagga” de Jongh, told the Cape Argus that he knew Jade “Wallie” Willis. The boy had bought a packet of tik for R25 from him a short while before the Christmas Day shooting, he said.
“I’ve been selling drugs here for 25 years. I heard nine gunshots. Wallie was at the wrong place at the wrong time,” De Jongh said.
De Jongh, who is affiliated to the G-Boys gang, said there was an ongoing turf war between the Americans and the Fancy Boys in Tafelsig.
He claimed Wallie was “not so innocent” as he was associated with the Americans and had often walked a few metres behind the older gang members, carrying their weapons on him because the police would not be suspicious of him.
De Jongh said Wallie’s father, also a member of the Americans, was shot dead two months ago.
Shots rang out midway through our interview in the front yard of the drug den in Simonsberg Street. Two other drug dealers fled and the Cape Argus team also hurried away.
Provincial police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel André Traut said the police would not speculate on the motive for Wallie’s shooting or whether it was gang related.
“The motive is unknown at this stage and we will investigate all possibilities. No one has been arrested.”
Meanwhile, Traut added that two Heideveld men, aged 19 and 23, from Devil’s Peak and Long Kloof roads, were shot dead on Christmas Day.
Around 10pm, the 19-year-old was killed, allegedly by a 38-year-old man.
“Members of the Tactical Response Team were patrolling the Heideveld area when they heard shots being fired. As they drove into Devils Peak Road they saw the suspect shooting the victim. When the suspect saw the police he started shooting at them,” Traut said. Police returned fire and hit the suspect in both thighs. He was taken to hospital for treatment and was arrested after he was discharged. He is being held in custody.
No one has been arrested for the murder of the 23-year-old, Traut said.
jade.otto@inl.co.za
Cape Argus