Six die in gang violence in one week

SIX people were shot dead and nine wounded in a spate of gang shootings in Port Elizabeth’s northern areas in the past week.

The latest shooting occurred shortly before 4pm yesterday, when a man was killed and another wounded in Helenvale.

The wounded man, 27, was behind a shack in Bongo Street when he was shot.

“Two men entered the yard and fired at him. He sustained a gunshot wound to his right arm while fleeing,” police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu said.

“As the two suspects ran away, they shot and killed Andrew Rosenburg, 26, in the yard of another house in the same street,” Naidu said.

Rosenburg died of a gunshot to the head.

“The suspects ran through an alley to Pienaar Street,” she said.

Naidu said the suspects were allegedly affiliated to the New Kids gang, but Rosenburg and the wounded man were not believed to belong to any gang.

Naidu, however, said both men lived in the known operating area of the Room Rats gang.

The latest spate of attacks began when alleged Upstand Dogs gang affiliates Hillerion Jacobs and Dane Oosthuizen, both 27, were shot dead inside a vehicle in Gelvandale on Thursday night last week.

Since then, rival gangs have set upon each other, prompting police to rethink their approach.

Naidu said the Provincial Gang Unit was monitoring gang movements in the northern suburbs.