'Cold-Blooded Attack' in Bar in S. Africa Leaves 15 Dead

Gunmen fire randomly into tavern in Soweto, police say
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 10, 2022 6:01 AM CDT
At a Bar in South Africa, Massacre Kills 15
A woman weeps at the scene of an overnight bar shooting in Soweto, South Africa, Sunday, July 10, 2022.   (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed)

For the second time in weeks, mass tragedy has unfolded at a bar in South Africa. Gunmen opened fire at a tavern in Soweto around midnight, killing 15 and wounding nine more, reports Reuters. Police don't know a motive, and no arrests have been made. The gunmen, armed with rifles and pistols, are believed to have arrived in a minibus and fled the same way. Authorities say they were firing randomly at the crowd. It appears to have been "a cold-blooded attack on innocent tavern patrons," one police official tells the BBC.

The AFP notes that South Africa has a relatively high per-capita rate of gun crime, on par with that of the US. Many shootings are linked to gangs, notes the BBC, though it's not clear whether there was any connection in this case. The AP reports that in a separate incident Saturday night, four people were shot dead by two gunmen at a bar in Sweetwaters township in the city of Pietermaritzburg. (The shootings follow the still-unexplained deaths of 21 young adults at a bar in the South African city of East London last month.)

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