The drug war in Scottsdene is escalating at a rapid pace, with more innocent people getting hurt and dying – as in the case of the shooting this past weekend.
A young boy from Park Avenue in Scottsdene was apparently hit in the face with a stun grenade that was shot by the police to disperse a crowd of people.
Rumour has it that the boy of about seven years old was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. The war in which he was caught started earlier on Sunday after a member of the 26 gang and his family were targeted by a rival gang. A man known as G-force and his bride were shot at.
Apparently they had gotten married the day before and had gone for a drive on Sunday when it happened. The community of Scottsdene say they are fed up of the gang violence and need the police to act.
But that is exactly what happened when the shooting escalated on Sunday afternoon in area known as The Zoo.
Police showed up and had to call in reinforcements – and that was when community members started throwing stones at them. According to eye witnesses, the police shot a stun grenade into the crowd to try and disperse them.
It was when the second grenade was shot that the police apparently saw the casualty. Moses Dlamini, a spokesperson for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), says there are currently conflicting reports as to the source of the stun grenade.
“The Ipid is in the process of registering a case of death as a result of police action and canvassing for witnesses.”
Dlamini says a postmortem will be held tomorrow and will be attended by Ipid investigators.
