A four-year-old child was shot and injured when two men allegedly tried to kill the driver of a taxi that was transporting pupils to school in Mooi River, near Pietermaritzburg in KZN.

The incident happened on Thursday just outside Bruntville Primary School, where the driver had gone to drop off pupils.

The taxi driver survived but sustained multiple gunshot wounds.

According to Pietermaritzburg police spokesperson Sergeant Sifiso Gwala, the taxi driver had stopped at the drop off-zone when “two unknown men alighted from a white Toyota Corolla vehicle and approached a vendor who was selling sweets.”

Gwala said one man then pulled out a firearm and went towards the taxi and started firing shots at it.

“The driver sustained multiple gun shot wounds and a four-year-old child was also shot in his left arm. They were both rushed to hospital.”

Gwala said the motive for the shooting is not known at this stage. He said no one has been arrested but police are investigating two cases of attempted murder.