Elsies business owner shot dead

Wounded worker was not the target, businessman says

A BANGLADESHI business owner was buried yesterday after he was shot dead and one of his workers wounded in an attack believed to be related to protection and extortion fees in the Elsies River CBD.

Shuhail Kagee, 45, the owner of a busy supermarket in Salberau, was buried from Gatesville mosque.

Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said Kagee was slain on Thursday. “Elsies River police attended the crime scene in Siddique Avenue about 5.30pm. On arrival they found a man had been fatally wounded and a 19-year-old man was wounded.

He was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital,” Van Wyk said.

Police are investigating murder and attempted murder cases. No one was arrested.

A business owner, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the shooting was a culmination of events.

“Kagee has been operating in the community for about two years. It is understood he bought a new shop a few metres from his current shop on Monday. The store was bought from a Somali trader who paid protection money to gangsters.

“He traded in the new store for just three days before he was gunned down. It seems the gangsters whom the previous owner paid protection money to, wanted the new owner to do the same and there was resistance,” he said.

The businessman said there were reports of an altercation between Kagee and the men who collect the fees.

“These groups who collect or extort money from business owners don’t like resistance. So if they are met with it, they will get into an altercation but will then leave.

“They will send in youngsters to the do the shooting,” he added.

He said shots were fired from outside the supermarket.

“It looked like a direct hit on Kagee, but it seems the wounded man was not an intended target. He was shot in the cheek after cowering behind a counter.”

Anyone with information can call Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or SMS Crime Line on 32211.