Overview
- Police say the 47-year-old officer drove to Whittes Plot near Hennenman in the early hours of Sunday and, after an argument at a family gathering, opened fire on five people.
- Three people — identified by police as the officer’s girlfriend’s mother, her uncle and a 25-year-old woman — were declared dead at the scene and the officer later shot himself.
- Two other victims sustained gunshot injuries, one of whom was taken to a local hospital while the other received treatment at the scene.
- Free State Provincial Commissioner Thabang Lesia condemned the killings and ordered a full probe that has been registered and referred to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate for external oversight.
- The motive remains unknown and investigators will seek to establish the sequence of events, the officer’s conduct while on duty and any disciplinary or criminal accountability that follows.