Community ‘must expose people who give guns to teens’

THE Wentworth Community Policing Forum chairperson has called on the community to “start talking” to the police so that those responsible for the spate of killings in the area can be arrested.

Pastor Dovonan Anderson said the community had a big role to play in getting the perpetrators apprehended.

“We had a community meeting recently with various law enforcement agencies where we discussed a variety of issues at length. We have asked the people to start talking so that the killings can be stopped.”

The pastor spoke after the shooting in Newlands East on Sunday that killed a youngster and landed his friends in hospital.

It is alleged that Samuel Emmanuel Hughes, Lucken Hlenti and Tresegay Barnes, all from Wentworth, were shot by unknown suspects while visiting Newlands East. Hughes died at the scene in Seabass Road.

“Teenagers are shooting each other in the area. We need to get to the bottom of who is actually giving guns to the kids. We know some people are fighting for their territories, and teenagers are joining gangs. We really need assistance,” he said. He added that another teenager had been killed in Wentworth a week earlier.

Anderson described the three youngsters – Hughes, Hlenti and Barnes – as good guys whose shooting may have been a case of mistaken identity.

“Overcrowding is one of the main issues in Wentworth. There are no sports and recreation facilities that might get the teenagers off the street,” he said.

The police said they were investigating the murder and attempted murders.