A driver of a minibus taxi was killed in Cape Town on Tuesday morning, the city’s fourth taxi-related shooting this week, Western Cape police said.
The man was shot in his head as he was driving along Lansdowne Road, in Philippi, spokesperson Captain Randall Stoffels said. ”It is alleged that a black Toyota Cressida, with four male occupants, drove past the moving taxi and fired several shots at the driver.”
The gunmen fled in the car and were still at large by Tuesday afternoon.
This incident followed three other shootings in Cape Town between Monday and Tuesday afternoon, which left four people wounded.
On Tuesday morning at 6.25am at the corner of Main Road and Beethoven Street in Delft, a 45-year-old taxi driver was shot in the head as he was loading passengers into his taxi.
”The suspect managed to shoot the taxi driver at close range with one bullet on the right side of his head. He sustained serious injuries and was taken for medical treatment at a nearby hospital,” said Captain Elliot Sinyangana.
Witnesses on the scene said the suspect was short, slender and dressed in a black leather jacket, brown jeans and a black woollen cap. He managed to escape and is still at large.
Meanwhile, at the Promenade taxi rank in Mitchells Plain on Monday afternoon, a 60-year-old woman and a 40-year-old man were wounded when a gang of men opened fire on the taxi in which they were passengers.
Earlier on Monday, a 40-year-old man was also wounded as he was embarking a taxi at the corner of Lansdowne and Vygieskraal roads in Philippi.
Police took 20 men in for questioning relating to the shooting at the Promenade taxi rank. Six of them were later arrested, Stoffels said. He added that though they were arrested, no formal charge was brought against them.
”The motive for the shootings is still unknown, but all possibilities will be investigated,” said Stoffels.
A case of murder and four of attempted murder are being investigated. — Sapa