Brackenfell police are investigating a case of murder following the death of a man who was shot in the back while reportedly cycling home from work on Sunday evening.
The 41-year-old, identified as Lu Booysen, was spotted lying on the side of Bottelary Road just past Botfontein Road by motorists who alerted emergency services around 19:50.
Medical-response teams arrived to find him already dead with two gunshots in the back.
Paramedic Kobus Kotze of Titanium Medical response said he must have been cycling at the time of his death, shot from behind by a passerby.
“We found him where he fell over on his bicycle,” he said, “the radio in the crate on the back of his bicycle was still playing.”
A motive for the murder is not known at this stage.
Booysen worked as a general worker for a business in Protea Heights.
According to his employer Francois Nieuwoudt he had three young children at home, the youngest a 4-month-old baby.
“He was a hard worker, quiet and dedicated and would even work on a Sunday, which was Father’s Day, if needed,” he said.
According to Nieuwoudt, Booysen left for home at about 18:20.
“He lived on a farm on Bottelary Road and would have stopped at the container shop close to the Botfontein Road on his way home,” he said. “The circumstances of his death are strange, as he was not robbed of anything and still had his cellphone and money on him.”
The community expressed their outrage on social media.
“Most of us are at home behind burglar bars with no guns. Criminals roam the streets with guns. It is so sad,” Annalene Heydenrych Botha pointed out.
“We need more visible policing, traffic officers and law enforcement on Bottelary and Botfontein Road. What a sick world we live in,” wrote Dominique Swanlow.
Michelle Adams called it “another senseless killing”, while Henry Featherstonehaugh called it “incomprehensible on many levels”.
Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact Brackenfell police on 082 469 0315.
