Child killed in alleged love triangle killings in KZN

A shooter who is alleged to have claimed the lives of three people over the weekend, including a young child, in what police are calling a love triangle dispute, is in a critical condition in hospital.

The killings took place in the early hours of Saturday morning in the Nhlalakahle settlement near Pietermaritzburg, KZN. It is alleged that the suspect shot his ex-girlfriend, her boyfriend, and her daughter, who were all declared dead on the scene.

A two-year-old boy was also shot and was rushed to a nearby hospital.

The Mountain Rise SAPS spokesperson, Warrant Officer Pancheal Singh, says the suspect was a private security guard who had just completed his shift at around 06:00.

“When his shift ended, he made his way to the settlement in a company vehicle to where his ex-girlfriend was staying. He entered the home and shot her and two children, who were under five. Both children are believed to be his.”

Singh says he then went up to the next settlement to shoot the man who he believed was his ex-girlfriend’s new lover.

“The man was also declared dead on the scene,” he says.

Singh says that in an apparent attempt to commit suicide, the security guard drove to Bishopstowe Road, where he was spotted on a security company tracker and was followed. It is believed that he parked his vehicle, walked into a sugarcane field, and shot himself in the head.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital in a critical condition, says Singh.

Singh says that the suspect is being monitored by police, but that on late Sunday, his ‘his condition was not looking promising’.

Police had not released the names of those involved in the shooting by the time of publication.