The task of finding the three men who shot and killed Julie Kalala after robbing her and her mother, Josephine, after their return from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Sunday evening is going to be a hard one for the Brooklyn police, who have no leads and no eyewitnesses. According to the police spokesperson, Captain Colette Weilbach, three men travelling in a white Opel Astra rammed their car into the Kalalas’ car as they were returning from the OR Tambo International Airport.
Julie Kalala and her friend, who drove with her and her mother to the airport, was then forced to get out of the car. “The men stole luggage, jewellery and $1 000. When Julie confronted them about taking her mother’s passport, one of the men allegedly shot her in the stomach. She died as a result of her injury on the way to the hospital.
A family friend, Keny Miteo, told the media that the three did realise they were being followed. “Josephine saw that the car was getting closer. The driver then bumped into them and shot Julie. She was taken to the Steve Biko Hospital, but she died on the way there. The men who shot her got away.”
Kalala was supposed to start her second year as a marketing student at the Tshwane University of Technology. Weilbach urged any person with information relating to the case to contact the Brooklyn police. Kalala will be buried in the DRC.
