Car flips in latest shooting linked to Cape Town extortion rackets
A man believed to be the brother of alleged gangster Ashley Fields was shot in the head in Cape Town on Thursday.
Video of the aftermath of the incident shows the man being pulled from a BMW lying on its side in Salt River.
Sources suggested the gunmen might have mistaken the man for Fields‚ as he was driving his brother’s car. Fields operates a taxi business in Salt River.
He is one of five men charged in connection with an extortion syndicate which has allegedly tried to take over nightclub security in Cape Town from a rival group controlled by businessman Mark Lifman‚ alleged Sexy Boys gang leader Jerome “Donkie” Booysen and bouncer boss Andre Naude.
Fields is part of a group headed by Nafiz Modack and Booysen’s brother‚ Colin‚ and is expected to appear alongside them and Jacques Cronje in Cape Town Regional Court in October‚ on charges of extortion and intimidation.
The fifth man charged alongside them‚ Carl Lakay‚ died in Goodwood earlier this month when he was shot multiple times. This followed an attempted hit on Jerome Booysen in a Spur restaurant in Kuils River a few days earlier.
The Spur shooting was the sixth attempt on Booysen’s life in less than two years. He was hit in the shoulder but one of the gunmen died‚ with preliminary reports at the time saying Booysen killed him when he opened fire in self-defence.
The series of shootings form part of a broader gang war in several Cape Flats neighbourhoods. There have been at least four other murders allegedly as a result of fighting between groups linked to both factions.
Modack told TimesLIVE on Thursday that Fields’ brother was alive and in hospital with a head injury.
Police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk said police were called to Junction Road in Salt River‚ where a gold BMW was on its side after colliding with several vehicles.
A man in the car had sustained multiple gunshot wounds and the woman with him was unhurt.
“A 48-year-old man was taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment. The motive for the shooting incident is not yet known and is under investigation. An attempted murder case was registered for investigation‚” he said.