Three men including two brothers, one wanted in connection with murder, died in a hail of bullets as they lay trapped in their crashed vehicle in Duncan Village’s C Section on Saturday afternoon.The brothers are siblings of murder victim Ludwe Zembe, an unemployed BCom graduate from University of Fort Hare who was gunned down late at night outside popular Buccaneer’s Sports Pub and Grill on the East London beachfront in April.
Police are looking for four men armed with three 9mm pistols and a shotgun suspected of shooting Visicelo Zembe, 27, Ntlanganiso Zembe, 23, and their 23-year-old friend Lungisani Maxinzi.
Maxinzi was driving a maroon Opel Kadett shortly before 5pm when four men on foot spotted his car and simultaneously opened fire, said East London police spokesman Col Mtati Tana. Maxinzi sped away but veered off the road and crashed into the wall of the Mzokhanyo High School.
The car landed on its side between a terrace and the school building, trapping the occupants inside. The gunmen then walked up to the car and fired another volley at the three men inside before walking away, residents said.
The gunfire sent people in the street and yards running for cover.
“The occupants died on the scene due to neck and head injuries. Spent cartridges of 9mm ammunition and a packet of dagga were found on the scene. A case of murder has been opened. No-one has been arrested yet,” said Tana.
He said the modus operandi of Saturday’s shooting was the same as the slaying of five people in Duncan Village, Buffalo Flats and Fynbos last weekend. Nothing was taken.
Speaking about Saturday’s slayings, Tana said: “The motive is still unclear.”
Police yesterday said the Zembe brothers were due to be state witnesses in a murder case involving their brother Ludwe. No suspects have been arrested in connection with that murder.
It also emerged yesterday that the East London Magistrate’s Court had issued a warrant of arrest for Ntlanganiso Zembe after he failed to appear in court for a separate charge of murder.
He was arrested in 2013 for allegedly stabbing to death the 17-year-old son of Duncan Village Community Policing Forum chairman Ludumo Salman. The case was postponed to September 30.
Meanwhile Mzokhanyo school principal Mxolisi Zweni was one of the first people to arrive at the scene of the crash and shooting on Saturday.
“When I got to the scene there were about 1000 residents looking on.
“The car was on its side and its roof was flattened. Investigators had to cut the fence to tow it away. It was finally extracted at 3am on Sunday,” Zweni said.
Another two brothers shot dead in ambush
Police are looking for four men armed with three 9mm pistols and a shotgun suspected of shooting Visicelo Zembe, 27, Ntlanganiso Zembe, 23, and their 23-year-old friend Lungisani Maxinzi.
Maxinzi was driving a maroon Opel Kadett shortly before 5pm when four men on foot spotted his car and simultaneously opened fire, said East London police spokesman Col Mtati Tana. Maxinzi sped away but veered off the road and crashed into the wall of the Mzokhanyo High School.
The car landed on its side between a terrace and the school building, trapping the occupants inside. The gunmen then walked up to the car and fired another volley at the three men inside before walking away, residents said.
The gunfire sent people in the street and yards running for cover.
“The occupants died on the scene due to neck and head injuries. Spent cartridges of 9mm ammunition and a packet of dagga were found on the scene. A case of murder has been opened. No-one has been arrested yet,” said Tana.
He said the modus operandi of Saturday’s shooting was the same as the slaying of five people in Duncan Village, Buffalo Flats and Fynbos last weekend. Nothing was taken.
Speaking about Saturday’s slayings, Tana said: “The motive is still unclear.”
Police yesterday said the Zembe brothers were due to be state witnesses in a murder case involving their brother Ludwe. No suspects have been arrested in connection with that murder.
It also emerged yesterday that the East London Magistrate’s Court had issued a warrant of arrest for Ntlanganiso Zembe after he failed to appear in court for a separate charge of murder.
He was arrested in 2013 for allegedly stabbing to death the 17-year-old son of Duncan Village Community Policing Forum chairman Ludumo Salman. The case was postponed to September 30.
Meanwhile Mzokhanyo school principal Mxolisi Zweni was one of the first people to arrive at the scene of the crash and shooting on Saturday.
“When I got to the scene there were about 1000 residents looking on.
“The car was on its side and its roof was flattened. Investigators had to cut the fence to tow it away. It was finally extracted at 3am on Sunday,” Zweni said.
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