Police on Saturday said that seventeen people died in two separate mass shootings on Friday night that took place in close proximity to each other in the small rural town of Lusikisiki, in South Africa‘s Eastern Cape province.
The national police spokesperson Brig. Athlenda Mathe in a statement said that the victims included 15 women and two men, while one person was reported to be in critical condition and receiving treatment at a hospital, the Associated Press reported.
“A manhunt has been launched to apprehend those behind these heinous killings,” Mathe added.
According to the police, twelve women and one man were killed in one house, while three women and one man were killed in another. The authorities provided no details on a possible motive behind these killings.
Video footage released by law enforcement authorities revealed that the shootings occurred at two different houses situated in close proximity to each other within the same neighborhood, and is described as a cluster of rural homesteads on the periphery of Lusikisiki.
South Africa’s homicide rate is among the highest globally, with mass shootings becoming more frequent in recent times, sometimes targeting individuals in their own homes.
According to the Associated Press, South Africa recorded over 27,000 homicides, in the last 12 months from March 1, 2023, to February 28, 2024, which translates to more than 70 deaths per day in a nation of 62 million people.
Earlier in the month of April, ten members of the same family, including seven women and a 13-year-old boy, were killed in a mass shooting at their home, in KwaZulu-Natal province.