Three gunmen opened fire at a house party in the KwaMakhutha township south of Durban, South Africa, on Tuesday night, killing 11 people, including a pregnant woman, and wounding three others, police said Wednesday.
The South African Police Service said 13 men and one woman, believed to be pregnant, were gathered at the house for a party when three men entered and opened fire before 11 p.m. Ten victims, including the woman, died at the scene, and four others were taken to the hospital, where one later died of gunshot injuries, bringing the confirmed death toll to 11. Accounts differed slightly on where the 11th victim died, with one report describing the death as occurring en route to the hospital and another describing it as occurring after arrival, a minor discrepancy that had not been resolved as of the latest reporting.
Police said they were searching for the suspects and that no arrests had been made as of Wednesday.
What We Know So Far
KwaMakhutha sits about 19 miles south of Durban on South Africa’s east coast. Local news outlet eNCA reported that the attackers also set fire to a car belonging to one of the victims during the attack.
Police said the motive for the shooting remained unclear, but confirmed that some of the people present at the house were already known to authorities in connection with ongoing investigations into criminal activity, details of which police said they could not disclose. “Although the motive of the shooting cannot be confirmed yet, feud between rival groupings cannot be ruled out,” police said in a statement.
A resident who spoke to eNCA said he had known several of the victims personally and was shocked by the killings. “It’s shocking and sad. These are guys I grew up with. I can’t believe it. It’s like a movie,” he said, adding that the victims were in their mid-30s and that their families were distraught. He said he had lived in the area his entire life and had never witnessed anything like the attack, describing the neighborhood as one that had always felt safe.
Why This Matters
The shooting adds to a series of mass shootings that have struck South Africa in recent years, including an attack in June in which multiple suspects killed 12 people in a poor neighborhood in Johannesburg. The recurrence of these large scale, multiple victim shootings across different cities suggests a persistent pattern of organized, targeted violence rather than isolated incidents, even though authorities have not yet established a confirmed motive for Tuesday’s attack specifically.
Police’s acknowledgment that some victims were already under criminal intelligence scrutiny, combined with their unwillingness to rule out a feud between rival groups, points toward the possibility that the attack was connected to organized criminal activity rather than a random act of violence, though officials have stopped short of confirming that link publicly. The resident’s account describing the area as previously safe underscores how such attacks can shatter a community’s sense of security even in neighborhoods not typically associated with this scale of violence.
What Happens Next
Police said they are continuing to search for the three suspects, with no arrests made as of the latest update. Authorities have not indicated when they expect to identify those responsible or release further details about the ongoing criminal investigations connected to some of the victims.
Given the pattern of recent mass shootings across South Africa, continued scrutiny of organized crime networks and gang related violence is likely, particularly if police are able to confirm a connection between Tuesday’s attack and the rival group feud they say cannot be ruled out.
Reporting drawn from the Associated Press, Sky News and eNCA
