Bar attack leaves 14 dead in South Africa’s Soweto: Police | Gun Violence News

Police say a high-caliber firearm was used to randomly shoot people in the licensed tavern and that an inquiry is pending.

A mass shooting at a tavern in Johannesburg’s Soweto township has killed 14 people and left three others in critical condition, according to police.

Police say they received reports that a group of men arrived in a minibus taxi and opened fire on some of the patrons at the bar late on Saturday night.

They added on Sunday morning that they were removing the bodies of the deceased and investigating what had led to the mass shooting.

“We were called in the early hours of the morning, around 12:30 am [22:30 GMT]”Said police lieutenant Elias Mawela after the overnight shooting.

The three critically injured and another wounded have been taken to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in the city.

“When we arrived on the scene, 12 people were confirmed dead,” Mawela said.

The lieutenant said 11 others were taken to hospital with wounds but two later died, raising the toll to 14.

The bar was in the Orlando district of Soweto, Johannesburg’s largest township, southeast of the capital.

According to Mawela, a high-caliber firearm was used to randomly shoot people in the licensed bar, and the number of cartridges found on the scene indicated it was a group of people who shot at the patrons.

“You can see that every one of those people were struggling to get out of the tavern,” Mawela said.

In a separate incident, four people were killed during a shoot-out at a bar in Pietermaritzburg in eastern South Africa.

The shooting took place towards 08:30 pm (18: 30GMT) on Saturday and left eight others injured, local police spokesman Nqobile Gwala said.

The shootings come two weeks after 21 teenagers were found dead in a tavern in the city of East London. The cause of those deaths has not yet been announced by authorities, but the teens were not shot nor crushed in a stampede, according to officials.