Sindy Majority was attending the funeral of a close family friend in Wentworth, south of Durban, when her world was turned upside down.
While mourning the death of a close friend, she was informed that her grandson, 20-year-old Jayden Majority, had been caught in a hail of bullets in an apparent mass shooting.
“It still feels surreal, it’s still a big shock to us. We never expected this,” she told TimesLIVE.
“We were at the church because the lady who died was very close to us. While we were there, someone came and told us that Jayden and his friends had been shot.”
Ironically the boys were sitting outside a flat with a violence-free zone sign on the wall when two armed men opened fired on them in Major Calvert street.
“I just flew up from there and rushed to the spot where they were shot. That’s where they told me my grandson has already gone to the hospital and we rushed there. We were still making his file when they told us he’s gone,” she added.
“My grandson was my everything. That child was my all, he was my first grandchild and we had that kind of relationship.”
Residents who witnessed the incident told TimesLIVE the shooting unfolded as the group of teenagers waited outside a flat, preparing to attend the same funeral.
They were waiting for their friend whose grandmother was being buried when the gunmen opened fire.
“The boys scattered running for their lives. One ran down the bank and a gunman chased him, shot and killed him there. Others ran towards Hime Street and were also chased and shot,” a witness said.
“Two passed away; one died right there and the other died in hospital.”
Jayden’s friend Laydon Long died at the scene and their seven friends are still in hospital.
“The only thing we could see was that one of the shooters was wearing a municipal, construction-type jumpsuit, the kind that workers wear. Another one also had an ordinary construction outfit.”
Residents said this was not a unique occurrence in the area. A similar attack happened last Sunday where two people were shot but survived.
Another resident, also speaking on the condition of anonymity and who was shot last week, described the ongoing terror.
“We were sitting and chatting when a group of guys, two approaching from one side and several others from the back, just pulled out guns and started shooting at us, no questions asked.”
The man, in his 50s, said he was running for safety when he saw that one boy had been shot in his leg and decided to help him get to a safe spot.
“Straight from that, as I ran up the stairs for my own safety is when two bullets hit me on both legs.”
The boy he helped on that day is also among the seven recovering in hospital.
KwaZulu-Natal police said the assailants arrived in a grey Mazda 3 and parked outside the flats. They then attacked the victims, aged between 15 and 22 years.
Provincial police spokesperson Col Robert Netshiunda said they are still investigating the motive but gang or drug-related turf wars cannot be ruled out.
The residents, however, are not convinced it is a gang or drug-related turf war.
“They [their children] just sit on that corner and mind their own business. It’s easy for authorities to say it’s gang violence so they can sweep it under the carpet, but it’s not true. Our children are being targeted and we don’t know why,” one said.
Those sentiments are also shared by the victim of Sunday’s incident. He said this has been going on for months.
“We don’t know what we did to them. Nobody is saying anything to us, they just come and start shooting,” he said.
“I don’t know maybe it’s because of the name that the boys call themselves over here. They call themselves Hollywood. I don’t know if it’s related to that name because it’s a very old name.”
He said they’ve been told the attackers come from neighbouring areas like F-section and 9th Street.
The community is now living in fear.
“They don’t care who they shoot: children, elderly, women. This has been happening for months and we’re living in constant fear.”
“We are praying for this thing to stop and we need policemen to be behind us because sometimes police come over an hour after the shooting. And the police station is right here, not even 10 minutes away.”
Sindi added: “I don’t know how other people are feeling right now, I just know what I’m going through and it’s not something I would wish on anyone. Fear is an understatement, we’re living in hell.”
“The sad thing is that you’ll find out it’s people who know each other, who grew up together that are killing each other because of this stupid mentality that is going through that’s creating this situation.”
Authorities have launched a manhunt for the suspects.
TimesLIVE
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