A Soweto man held his wife, his mother-in-law and an adopted child hostage before killing them and then shooting himself on Monday, police said.
Captain Mbazima Shiburi said a concerned neighbour in Chiawelo extension five called the police to report fighting at the house.
The police arrived and managed to get a phone number for the house. They spoke to the man by telephone, trying to draw him from the house.
However, during the negotiations shots were fired and police became worried because everything went quiet and they could no longer raise the man on the telephone.
A special task team entered the house at about 7am and found three bodies in the kitchen.
The man’s wife (45), his mother-in-law (63) and a seven-year-old child adopted by his mother-in-law lay dead with bullet wounds to their heads.
The man was found dead in one of the bedrooms with a .38 licensed firearm lying next to him.
Their bodies were removed to the Diepkloof mortuary and police are trying to establish the reason for the killings, Shiburi said. — Sapa