The Office of the Provincial Commissioner in Mpumalanga has strongly refuted claims that police shot an 18-year-old boy from Barberton.
“Rumours making the rounds that the boy was shot by police are false, unfounded and strongly discredit the police maliciously,” Mpumalanga Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma, said on Thursday.
This comes in light of a false story making rounds on social media platforms that police were involved in the shooting of the boy, in the wake of ongoing violent protests in Barberton.
“To set the record explicitly clear, on the said day, the victim was with a group of friends and one of them, an 18-year-old boy had a firearm in his possession.
“The firearm allegedly went off and hit the victim in the upper body,” said the South African Police Service (SAPS) in a statement.
Police were notified about the incident. They rushed to the scene with medical personnel, where the young man was unfortunately certified dead on the scene.
“A case of murder was immediately opened and the said firearm seized as well,” SAPS said.
As police collected more information, it was revealed through preliminary investigations that the 18-year-old suspect was the one who allegedly pulled the trigger.
The motive for the shooting is unknown at this stage. However, the suspect has already been arrested in connection with the murder.
“We have arrested the suspect but the false message continues to misinform the public. We urge those individuals to withdraw their incorrect messages and stop unnecessarily damaging the image of the police,” Zuma said.
Further information surfaced and revealed that the firearm was stolen from a police officer during a hijacking incident in Masoyi in January.
The investigation thereof is underway and police are still searching for the suspects in connection with the hijacking case. - SAnews.gov.za
