Seventeen people, including 15 women, were tragically killed in two separate mass shootings in a rural town in South Africa, police reported. The incidents occurred on Friday night in Lusikisiki, located in the Eastern Cape province.
A manhunt has been launched to find the suspects involved in the shootings, according to national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe, who made the announcement on Saturday. One other individual is in critical condition in the hospital.
The shootings took place at two different homes in a rural area on the outskirts of Lusikisiki. Police footage revealed the scale of the tragedy, with 12 women and one man killed in one house, while three women and another man lost their lives in the second residence.
"A manhunt has been launched to apprehend those behind these heinous killings," Mathe stated, though no information regarding a possible motive has yet been provided.
South Africa continues to grapple with alarmingly high rates of violent crime, including mass shootings, which have become more frequent. Just last year, 10 members of a family, including seven women and a 13-year-old boy, were killed in their home in the neighboring province of KwaZulu-Natal.
With a murder rate of approximately 45 per 100,000 people, South Africa ranks among the highest globally. This rate is starkly higher when compared to countries like the U.S., where the murder rate is about 6.4 per 100,000, or Europe, where rates hover around 1 per 100,000. In the 12-month period from March 2023, South Africa reported over 27,000 homicides, equating to more than 70 deaths per day.
Despite having relatively strict firearm laws, South Africa continues to face the problem of a large number of illegal, unregistered firearms circulating throughout the country.
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