Party turns into manic shoot-out
Five injured as bullets fly in altercation between off-duty SANDF members and police at 50th birthday celebration
FIVE people were injured when off-duty SANDF members and policemen opened fire on each other in a wild exchange on a Durban beach at the weekend.
The shooting took place at a 50th birthday party being held at Ansteys Beach on the Bluff on Saturday night.
Melani Simon, whose husband was celebrating his 50th birthday, said she was shocked by the night’s events. “It was mad, it was so hectic,” she said.
Simon, from Wentworth, said a relative’s car key broke in the ignition and some in their party left to get tools to fix the car, while others tried asking for help from passing motorists.
It was during this time that they stopped a car with SANDF members. Simon said the conversation between the two groups became heated and soon shots were fired.
As pandemonium broke out, people were scrambling for cover, and a relative who was a policeman shot back.
Simon said police later came to the scene and said they could not go into a nearby lodge where the SANDF members were as this would be the responsibility of military police.
Five people were injured in the shoot-out, with two being released on the night as they had minor injuries, she said.
Two women and a man who were critically injured were hospitalised.
Asked about their condition, Agiza Hlongwane, KZN health spokesperson, cited patient confidentiality and referred all queries to the police because the incident was under investigation.
Another witness gave a different version of events. It happened at about 11pm. There was a group of about 13 people celebrating at the 50th birthday party for a man among them, he said.
The witness, who asked not to be named because he feared for his safety, said a black BMW arrived later in the night.
Three men alighted from the vehicle and went to where the party was being held. The man said one of the revellers took a rock and smashed the windows of the BMW.
“The three men casually walked back to their car and took out their pistols. The group of party-goers were shouting and swearing at these men, telling them they were gangsters from Wentworth,” he said.
The three men started firing at the party-goers, who fired back.
“A man from the BMW complained that his gun was not shooting how he wanted it to, so he took a semi-automatic rifle from his car. That’s when things really became bad. He told his friends to walk ahead of him and he started shooting so much the party-goers could not respond,” he said.
People were running for cover in all directions, some to a nearby toilet, while one person jumped over a railing, about three metres down to the beach.
The witness said he was hiding in the bushes watching events unfold. “It was like fireworks going off.
“A man from a nearby flat tried to intervene and ran towards the scene with a gun. But there were so many shots being fired by the three men that he ran away. After that, the men got into the car and slowly drove away while the man with the semi-automatic rifle put the gun out of his window and kept firing shots into the air,” he said.
Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala said firearms seized would go for ballistics testing.
“Charges of attempted murder and assault are being investigated by Brighton Beach SAPS,” she said.
SANDF spokesperson Brigadier-General Mafi Mgobhozi confirmed that members of the force were involved in the incident. He said he was still trying to get details about what happened.