Shooting rampage
Sent over the edge by a delayed property deal, man wounds two before killing himself
ABETHELSDORP man with a history of mental illness calmly threatened to kill his wife and then himself as they enjoyed morning tea yesterday, before embarking on a shooting rampage during which he wounded two men before turning the gun on himself.
The drama erupted at about 6am when Ronald Vogelstruis, 57, ran out of his Kleinskool house and shot two strangers, and then raced about a kilometre to his brother’s house where he barricaded himself in, with police arriving minutes later to try to talk him into leaving the house.
As the small Limberg Road house was surrounded by police, the street was blocked off while negotiators tried to lure Vogelstruis out.
Metro medics were called to the scene in case a shootout erupted during the negotiations.
Curious neighbours stayed in their yards and watched from a distance.
At 8.45am – after an almost two-hour stand-off – Vogelstruis shot himself in the chest while sitting in the lounge.
Police, with guns drawn, charged into the house where he was found, hanging onto life by a thread.
Medics were called to assist but he was declared dead 15 minutes later.
A scribbled suicide note was found close to his body.
Negotiators had refused to buckle to Vogelstruis’s demands to see his wife, given that he had told her earlier he wanted to shoot her.
“At one stage, it looked like he was going to come out the house,” an official said.
“The weapon was down on the couch and he was talking to the negotiators – it looked promising.
“Something happened and he just shot himself in the chest.”
Medics ran into the house, but attempts to revive him failed.
There is no evidence Vogelstruis knew the two men he shot.
Caesar van Rayner, 52, was shot five times in the upper body, while Stephen Kulani, 48, was hit three times. Both men are in Livingstone Hospital’s intensive care unit.
In an interview two hours after the shooting, Vogelstruis’s visibly shocked wife of 30 years, Allie, 54, told how, shortly after waking up, her husband had casually told her he planned to murder her and then kill himself.
“We woke up as usual and I made us tea at about 5.30,” she said.
“We were both sitting down and talking when he told me this would be the last cup of tea I am going to have and that I must enjoy it.
“I was stunned and as we spoke, he told me that his plan was to shoot me and then himself. At that stage, the gun was on the table. “I tried to stall and asked him why he was speaking like this.
“He then told me that he had changed his mind and would just shoot himself so that I got everything.”
Allie said as her husband grabbed the gun on the table, she had run out the house.
“He had a look in his eyes and I knew I had to run out,” she said. “As I ran down the road, he ran out behind.
“While I was running, I heard gunshots and I found out later that he shot two people who were near our house.
“He ran to his brother, who is a police official.
“In the house, his brother asked for the gun, but he [Vogelstruis] refused.
“The family then left him alone inside the house.”
Allie confirmed that her husband had had a long history of mental illness and had previously been admitted to hospital.
Relatives suspect the shooting stems from a delay in payment on a land deal between the Vogelstruis family and the municipality.
The deal – which has been in the making for five years – involves the municipality buying the Vogelstruis family’s two plots of land in Bethelsdorp for about R400 000 .
Allie said the drawn-out deal had put financial strain on the family as they were both unemployed and struggled to make ends meet.
“It has been an ongoing battle for at least five years,” she said.
“We must borrow money to catch a taxi to the lawyer for answers.
“The money has not been paid and apparently, in the next few months, the deal will be finished.
“This land deal is what sent him over the edge.”
The suicide note – which was written during the stand-off with police – was derogatory of Charles Nelson, the lawyer handling the sale of the property.
Nelson, who was devastated by the tragic news, said he was not sure why Vogelstruis had been angry with him.
“This has been a long process but it is finally coming to an end,” he said.
“I really don’t know why he would have an issue with me.”
Nelson said the delay in sewing up the deal was due to the property being owned by several family members, of whom some had died over time.
“The delay stems from getting executor appointments for each one [of the deceased].
“Then there was an issue with a company that is no longer registered, so that had to be sorted out.
“I do think he was under a lot of pressure from the community and relatives to finalise this deal.
“I do not understand why he would do this as the deal is almost done.”
Vogelstruis’s niece, Ilse Magerman, agreed that the sale of the land was a major factor.
“This [shooting] was a long time coming – he was under a lot of stress from the money that we were meant to get but which never arrived.”
Police on the scene said a second gun found on the bed inside Vogelstruis’s house appeared to have jammed.
“He originally ran out the house shooting with two guns but, somehow, the second gun was found lying on the bed,” an official said.
“We presume it jammed and he then threw it on the bed and ran to his brother’s house.”
Municipal spokesman Kupido Baron said while they were perturbed and saddened by the incident, no motive had been established yet and it could, therefore, not be concluded at this stage that it was linked to delays in the transfer of land.
“Council resolved as far back as November 2010 that a number of erven must be acquired in Kliprand for development,” he said.
“The delays in the acquisition and transfer of [the Vogelstruis land] have been caused by a number of reasons, including complexities regarding the conclusion of the estate of the original owner and the finalisation of the selling price.
“On February 16 2009, the Vogelstruis family signed a deal that gave an estate agent the sole mandate to sell the land for a set period of two years.
“Due to the exorbitant amounts requested by the estate agent, we had to wait until the sole mandate expired so we could negotiate directly with the family.”
Police spokesman Captain Johan Rheeder said: “At this stage, the motive for this [shooting] remains unknown.”
The weapon was down on the couch and he was talking to negotiators