Shot boy ‘trying to protect family’
The teenager who was killed in the robbery was apparently attempting to protect his family.
The teenager killed in cold blood on Thursday morning during a robbery in the east of Pretoria was apparently trying to protect his family.
Boschkop police spokesperson Captain Marissa van der Merwe said the 17-year-old Keanu Badenhorst was shot in the lounge. His mother and 12-year-old sister were in their bedrooms at the time.
“The fact that he was shot while his family members were elsewhere led us to think that he might have been seeking to protect them.”
The teenager was hit in the stomach and died on the scene.
This happened at the family’s home in Garsfontein Road in the Bashewa Agricultural Holdings.
Five armed men entered the family home through a bathroom window around midnight, shortly after Badenhorst had returned home from work.
His mother Lelanie Storm (41) said her son heard the intruders and confronted them.
“I heard them talking and then a shot was fired. I am sure he was trying to protect us.”
She and her daughter ran out of their bedrooms.
“My daughter tried to hit one of the men, but were quickly tied up. One of the men put his hand on my leg and I thought he was going to rape me. But they left after removing the television set and other items.”
Storm said she freed herself while her son was still alive.
“I held him in my arms as he told me he was dying. He took his last breath shortly afterwards.”
A neighbour, Andrea Stolz, said the men slipped through her smallholding to get to the neighbours.
“We noticed a large hole in the fence this morning. It seems that the men has cut our fence to get to the neighbour’s house. This is so tragic.”
Van der Merwe said the search for the killers was continuing.
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