Murder suspect nabbed at court

He has been wanted for the Boardwalk shooting since last year

ONE of the gunmen believed to have been involved in a shooting outside the Boardwalk complex eight months ago was arrested in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court building shortly before appearing for an unrelated murder case.

The man, 21, whom police are naming only once he has been formally charged in court, was arrested on Wednesday while sitting outside a courtroom waiting to appear for the murder of Keeno Charles.

Charles was shot dead in September while sitting in a shack in Voisen Road, Helenvale.

Police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu said the man had been spotted by visible gang intervention team officials, who were at court for an unrelated matter.

The members called the provincial gang unit detective team.

“The suspect was sitting with friends while waiting to appear,” Naidu said.

“He has been wanted by investigators for the Boardwalk related shooting since last year.”

The suspect is due to appear in the same court today for both the Charles murder and the attempted murder of Dustlifes coleader Wendell Petersen.

Naidu confirmed that the suspect was out on bail in the Charles murder case.

The latest arrest stems from a shooting in which two suspected gangsters, believed to be from rival gangs, shot at Petersen in a suspected failed hit.

Petersen and friends were leaving the Boardwalk in a BMW when two gunmen opened fire on their vehicle as they approached the boomgate exit in Second Avenue.

Six shots were fired at the BMW, only one hitting the car. The two shooters ran off. In late 2015, Petersen was shot at while sitting in a BMW in Schauderville.

In that attack, suspected senior gang member Ryan “Baas” Stafford, 28, was killed.

Earlier that year, rival gangsters shot at Petersen’s house, hitting him in the arm.

Petersen was shot, also in the arm, on August 13 2011, in Stag Street, Gelvandale.