Teenager killed and one injured in Northern areas shooting

A teenager was killed and another injured when an unknown number of gunmen shot at them on Sunday afternoon.

Tyrique Cornelius, 16, was shot dead in the shooting while his friend, an 18-year-old, was shot in the chest.

Police confirmed that two others managed to escape unscathed during the shooting. The identity of the survivors is not being revealed for their protection.

Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said that while the four friends were not gangsters, the shooting was believed to have been done by gangsters.

Naidu said the incident happened at about 6:15pm while the four friends, aged between 16 and 20 years old, were sitting on a stair cases behind a house in Kido Crescent in Ext 21, Bethelsdorp.

“The friends were busy looking at a cellphone and chatting when they heard several gun shots being fired in Kroneberg Street, one street away,” she said.

“Three of the four managed to run away and scale a nearby fence while the forth victim (Cornelius) was shot multiple times.

"He was rushed away in a private car and passed away at the hospital. The injured man was also taken to hospital and is still alive.”

She said the motive and reasons as to why they were possibly targeted remains unknown at this stage.

“It is believed that the shooting was carried out by a group of three individuals of which only one had a firearm.”

This comes after, Keenan Visagie, 18, and Kenneth Lindoor, 45, were killed in separate shootings in Bethelsdorp last week.

All of the cases are under investigation by the Provincial Organised Crime Investigation Unit, also known as the Gang Unit.