CAPE TOWN, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Five people were gunned down and five others wounded in a mass shooting on Wednesday in South Africa's southwestern province of Western Cape, said local police on Thursday.
"Anti-Gang Unit detectives are hard at work in search of gunmen who shot and killed five people and injured five others on Wednesday evening in Atlantis," Novela Potelwa, provincial police spokesperson, said in a statement.
Atlantis is a small town in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality in the Western Cape. It is located about 40 km north of the Cape Town Central Business District.
"Reports from the scene indicate the victims of the shooting incident were returning home in three vehicles from the Silverstream beach when yet-to-be-identified gunmen opened fire on the vehicles on the corner of Old Mamre and Silverstream roads," said Potelwa.
As a result, five people between the ages of 18 and 30 were fatally wounded, and five others were taken to a medical facility with gunshot wounds, according to the spokesperson.
Potelwa said local police have opened murder and attempted murder dockets for investigation. "As the investigation unfolds, it is expected that the motive for the shooting incident will be determined. No arrests have been effected yet."
In a separate statement, Anroux Marais, Western Cape minister of police oversight and community safety, expressed deep dismay at the incident.
"I want to convey my deepest sympathy to the families and loved ones of those who were killed and wounded in this attack. Atlantis is experiencing a deeply worrying upsurge in violence," said Marais. "I have instructed Law Enforcement Advancement Plan Rapid Response Unit members to be deployed and stationed in Atlantis to assist in restoring law and order."
"I want to urge members of the public who may have any information on this incident and other crimes to assist us and the South African Police Service. Together, we can beat crime in the Western Cape," she said.
The neighboring Eastern Cape Province has recently experienced a series of mass shootings that have left more than 30 people dead.
In the most recent incident, five men were found dead in an informal settlement in New Brighton in Gqeberha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth, on Tuesday night. It occurred on the heels of another mass shooting in Bityi, where five family members were gunned down, and two children were wounded on Friday night.
These came just more than two weeks after six community patrollers were brutally gunned down in Qumbu on Oct. 6, and less than a month after 18 people were shot dead in Lusikisiki on Sept. 28, both in the Eastern Cape Province. Several suspects have been arrested and charged in connection with the Lusikisiki incident. ■