The Bryanston community is in shock after a well-known local gym owner, a young father of two, was shot and killed outside his home late on Wednesday night.

Sandton Chronicle reports that his wife and two small children witnessed the attack, which has left the neighbourhood devastated.

Different versions of events

According to eBlockwatch, reporting on the scene on the day of the incident, there are different versions circulating: Some say it was a home invasion, while others believe it was a follow-home that turned into a home invasion.

eBlockwatch founder Andre Synman said: “Right now, our teams are on the ground trying to separate rumour from fact.

“There are two main scenarios we’re looking at: A follow-home from an entertainment area and an attack linked to people operating from the nearby river area.

“There are clues and evidence that point strongly to the second scenario, that it may be linked to vagrants or criminal elements in that river zone, but like every case, you start with possibilities and work until the facts line up. That’s what we are doing now.”

Synman added that this also fits a pattern known too well in the run-up to the December holidays.

Crime pattern concerns

He said November is peak season for crime. There are hijackings, follow-home robberies and home invasions and then the perpetrators disappear back into the areas they come from.

“This case is a tragic, senseless example of that pattern: a wife now widowed and two children left without a father.”

SAPS Johannesburg District spokesperson Colonel Mpho Tshehlani was contacted for comment, but none was received at the time of publishing.

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