12 killed in Johannesburg mass shooting

by · UPI

June 10 (UPI) -- Police in South Africa are looking for at least 10 people who carried out a mass shooting attack that killed 12 people in Johannesburg.

The shooters, who were heavily armed with rifles, went into the Jumpers Informal Settlement in the Cleveland suburb of the city on Tuesday night and began shooting.

Nine men and three women were killed, and at least nine people were injured and are being treated for gunshot wounds in area hospitals.

Police said they were called about a shooting in progress at about 11:10 p.m. local time Tuesday, said Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi of the South African Police Service. They arrived to find multiple people with gunshot wounds. The suspects were dropped off in a minibus taxi, Nevhuhulwi said, "and moved through the area opening fire on residents and community members at multiple locations before fleeing the scene in the same vehicle."

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"As you know, this area is adjacent to the illegal mining area. We are having those suspicions," the BBC reported Gauteng Police Commissioner Lt. Gen Tommy Mthombeni told reporters.

One man spoke to a local news station with his face covered and said he believed the attack was linked to a turf war between illegal miners in the area, The New York Times reported. After a disagreement, some left the area, but they had been back several times to cause trouble.

The man said he thinks he knows who the shooters are but doesn't trust that the police won't cause him trouble.

"If there is honesty within our police and they can be trusted, we can explain, even where to find the shooters because we know them," The Times reported the man said.

Illegal miners in South Africa are called zama zamas, and many of them are undocumented immigrants. They go into gold mines that are no longer in use and sell what they find on the black market, which can be lucrative.

But the practice can also be violent. Earlier this year, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa sent the military to some areas to help close down illegal mining, the BBC reported.

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