Pregnant woman shot at spinning event in Walmer

A pregnant woman underwent surgery yesterday after she was shot in the leg — causing it to break in three places — during what police say was an illegal car spinning event.

A gun was fired during a heated argument between two men, with the bullet striking the expectant mother.

Fortunately, Legin Hoffman, 37, has learnt that her unborn child is doing well.

Gqeberha police are investigating a case of attempted murder.

The event, hosted by the Spin Society, took place at a warehouse in Caravelle Street in Walmer on Sunday.

What was meant to be a fun day out watching modified cars spinning turned into a night of trauma for the Aspen Heights woman and her family.

Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said an altercation broke out between two men and as people were trying to break up the argument, a gunshot went off, with the bullet hitting the woman in her leg.

Naidu said police had not been made aware of the event and that no permission had been granted for it to take place.

“A case was opened [on Monday afternoon] when police became aware of the shooting.

“The organiser of the event will be dealt with under the Disaster Management Act,” she said.

According to a Spin Society Facebook post, the gates for the event opened at 11am on Sunday.

By 3pm, Walmer residents had begun complaining on a neighbourhood WhatsApp group of the excessive noise and car fumes.

Ricardo Hoffman said he had attended the event with his wife, Legin, and their sixyear-old daughter.

Hoffman said that by 7pm the event had just about concluded and the organisers were in the process of giving out prizes to participants when he heard an argument and saw a group of men fighting.

He then heard a gunshot and suspected that his wife must have been hit by a stray bullet.

“We were sitting inside the warehouse with our camp chairs and socialising.

“Thankfully, my daughter was not there at the time.

“She was not feeling well so our friends had taken her home.

“[My wife] was in a lot of pain, she was screaming.

“The paramedics tried to put her on a stretcher, she was sweating and I tried to calm her down.

“It was really a traumatic experience,” Hoffman said.

He was just grateful that his unborn baby was unharmed.

Legin was taken into theatre for surgery yesterday afternoon after doctors established that her leg had been broken in three places.

“I am not going to leave it like this.

“For now, I just want my wife to be OK and go through the surgery to recover,” Hoffman said.

A BesMed paramedic, who did not want to be named, said he arrived at the scene at about 7.20pm and managed to

stop the bleeding and bandage the woman’s leg.

“There was an entry and exit wound and the bullet went through her bone.

“We splinted her leg and also put her on a drip.”

Shortly afterwards, she was stabilised and a BesMed ambulance transported her to Netcare Greenacres Hospital, the

paramedic said. Spin Society event organiser Roche Harker claimed he did report the incident to the police but that noone responded.

“Maybe they were busy with a shift change, I don’t know.”

Harker said the incident was completely unexpected and unfortunate because spinning events had only just made a comeback due to Covid-19.

Spin Society had last hosted an event in 2018.

He said the event was just about ending when two men got involved in an argument inside the warehouse.

Harker alleged that another person came out of nowhere and a shot went off in the direction of the floor.

He claimed that people at the event tried to apprehend the man but he managed to flee.

“Everything had gone so well, everyone was having fun and families and children were together.

The Herald asked him if he got permission to host the event and what the the process was when hosting these events.

He responded that they followed all procedures, including Covid-19 protocols .

“All Covid-19 regulations were in place.

“We had about 250 people outside and 150 inside [the warehouse].

“We have never had an incident like this before and this was something totally unexpected.

“We don’t even know how he got in but we had security,” Harker said.

Greenacres Hospital spokesperson Adele Kennedy said clinical management was the priority when a patient with a trauma injury was treated at the emergency department.

Kennedy said only in specific instances, such as where child abuse may be suspected, or at a patient’s request, would the hospital contact the appropriate authorities.

Walmer resident Lee Broom said the noise from the event had been deafening.

It had started in the morning and ended later that evening.

“It just went on and on, it was terrible. My family could smell the fumes in the house,” Broom said.