In ‘random’ bar shootings in South Africa, gunmen murder 19 people

• Gunmen kill 19 people in apparently random shootings at taverns in Soweto and Pietermaritzburg.
• South Africa is one of the world’s most violent countries with 20,000 people dead every year.
• The killers from both incidents are on the run, according to police.

Police said on Sunday that two seemingly random shootings at South African bars; resulted in the deaths of 19 individuals, reiterating the country’s grim reputation; as a global hub for homicide.

In the early hours of Sunday, gunmen armed with rifles and handguns opened fire; in the Orlando East pub in the Soweto township; killing 15 people and injuring nine others, according to police.

Elias Mawela, the provincial police commissioner for Gauteng; claims that it was clear from the manner the bullet casings were; that the shooters were acting carelessly.

Sthembiso, 34, and Luyanda, 18, one of Sololo Mjoli’s two sons, both slain in the attack; at the bar in one of Soweto’s less affluent neighbourhoods that is primarily; made up of metal sheet shacks.

The 59-year-old gardener expressed his “heartbreak,” saying that Sthemibiso’s girlfriend;  she had found him still breathing when she had arrived on the site; soon after the gunshot.

He was then taken to the hospital, where he died.

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Thobani Mhlabiso, a bar server, said that he retreated behind the refrigerator; to escape the attack.

He says, “There was blood all throughout.”

Four people killed and eight injured in a second; seemingly random shooting that occurred hours earlier; at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Saturday in a bar in Pietermaritzburg; 500 kilometres southeast of Soweto.

The two shootings, according to the officers, were unrelated. According to authorities, who noted that it was unclear; how many assailants are present in either shooting; the murderers from both events remain on the run.

With 20,000 murders a year, South Africa, which has a population of roughly 60 million; is one of the most violent nations in the world.

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