Unknown gunmen killed seven members of the same family, including three children, in an execution-style massacre at their home in rural South Africa, police said Thursday.
A five-year-old kid was slain in a gunshot at a farmhouse in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province late Wednesday, according to police. They stated the eldest victim was a woman around the age of 55.
The motive for the attack in the Highflats area, roughly 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of the coastal metropolis of Durban, was unknown.
“As cops, we are confident that it was an execution. “It was a planned murder,” regional police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi told reporters outside the home.
“Some of the victims appeared to have been shot in the head while on the floor. There was a total of about 25 bullets that were used,” he said.
The shooters stormed into the residence while the family was watching television. They forced one of the family members who was outside the house to knock on the door, and then opened fire once it was opened.
South Africa has one of the world’s highest peacetime per capita homicide rates.
Police numbers released in August show that about 6,200 individuals were murdered in the country between April and June.
