KwaZulu-Natal police have arrested four suspects in connection with the shooting incident that occurred at Samukelisiwe Tavern and Restaurant in Sweetwater, Pietermaritzburg.
Four people were shot dead, and others were wounded after armed men walked into the tavern and randomly shot at patrons.
Colonel Nxobile Gwala, the police spokesperson said the suspects would appear at the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
On Saturday 9 July, gunmen opened fire at the tavern, killing four people and wounding eight others. The shooting incident occurred few hours just before 16 people were shot and killed at a tavern in Orlando East, Soweto. On the very same weekend there was another shooting at a tavern in Katlehong, east of Johannesburg.
In the week that followed, two suspects were taken in for questioning as it was alleged that they were the people who were last seen leaving the tavern just after the shooting happened. The suspects were released from custody.
“Four suspects who have now been arrested are aged between 19 and 36. They were arrested in the Nhlazatshe area”, said Gwala.
“Two of the suspects were found to be in unlawful possession of a firearm, with a total of 17 rounds of ammunition,” she said.
Meanwhile, the KwaZulu-Natal Liquor authority has since suspended the owner’s licence for three months after it had been found that the tavern breached its licence conditions.
The KZNLA said it had conducted an internal investigation which found that the tavern breached the “security commitments” of the licence agreement.
“The KZN Liquor Authority found that the security commitments made by the licensee were not adhered to as per the application documents submitted, this resulted in the breach of the licence conditions set out by the authority,” the organisation said in a statement.
Source: News24, Eyewitness News, The Citizen, ENCA, image from Twitter: The Citizen