Reiger Park shooting | Masemola deploys specialised team to hunt down killers

National police commissioner General Fannie Masemola says a specialised police team will remain deployed in Reiger Park, Boksburg, to stabilise the area and hunt down those behind a deadly drive-by shooting.

This comes after six people were killed and three others wounded on Saturday night in Williams Road, Reiger Park, in what police described as a drive-by shooting.

Briefing the media and residents on Sunday afternoon, Masemola said police would not allow such incidents to continue.

“We came out here because we heard what had happened yesterday, and we say it cannot continue happening in this way,” he said.

Masemola said he had met with local councillors, community leaders, and pastors, and several key decisions were taken to restore calm and improve policing in the area.

“The first decision is that the police team deployed here for stabilisation will remain here and work here to make sure that there is stability in this community,” he said.

He announced that an additional investigation team would be brought in to handle all criminal cases in Reiger Park.

“I will bring in another investigation team that will come and investigate cases of Reiger Park,” Masemola said.

“I am also asking the community to work together with that investigation team so that we can arrest these few individuals that are causing havoc in this community.”

Masemola assured residents that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.

“We are going to arrest these thugs that did this, and I am happy that most of you are cooperating. You are talking in terms of who they are, so we are definitely going to make sure that we arrest them,” he said.

He further urged parents to take responsibility for their children, saying: “We ask once more again to the community that the kids, the children, play part of the parents, make sure that you take charge of your children.”

Masemola added that another meeting would be held later this week with communities from other areas facing similar gang-related problems.

“We will look at the immediate, medium, and long-term solutions in terms of what needs to be done,” he said.

“But that won’t be the police alone. We will invite other departments such as the Department of Education and the Department of Social Development, because they have a bigger role to play.”

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, who joined Masemola during the visit said law enforcement agencies had been instructed to track down those responsible for the killings without delay.

“The mission and the request is very simple: go and hunt those heartless people. We have no words to say, it’s our responsibility and our task to hunt them, and hunt them now,” he said.

Lesufi welcomed Masemola’s commitment to deploy additional police resources to Reiger Park, saying the province required “massive support” to deal with the escalating violence.

“The support that is needed here is not ordinary support,it’s massive support, from the cars, from those that need to investigate, and those that need to trace these heartless people,” he said.

He also pledged that the provincial government would immediately assist the affected families.

“I commit that the government I have the honour to lead will immediately support those families, especially the families of the deceased. They need us now, and we must show our support to them,” he said.

Lesufi said the government would work with councillors and local leaders to determine the families’ needs and ensure that they were protected from intimidation. 

He warned that the time for talk was over and that law enforcement must take decisive action. “We’ve been talking, it’s enough.

The police must act now, the police must take their place, and the police must ensure that we don’t have to meet because people are dead. We need to meet because people are going to prison,” he said.

He also condemned reports that some police officers were working with criminals, saying such conduct undermined the fight against crime.

“Every time we have situations like this, we hear that there are policemen working with criminals. It is disheartening that every time communities say we see policemen on the other side instead of being on our side,” he said.

Lesufi praised the community’s swift mobilisation following the shooting.

“I’ve never seen you rallying like the way you did last night. All the social media messages you sent, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much. That’s how we got these messages, and that is how we deployed the police to come and assist you,” he said.

''We can assure you we will get them and justice must be served on them because we cannot allow this to go on,'' said Lesufi. 

hope.ntanzi@iol.co.za

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