A mother of two was shot dead after two gunmen entered her home and one of them held her children at gunpoint upstairs.
The incident happened on Wednesday afternoon in Cornubia, KwaZulu-Natal.
Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) said they were contacted by a neighbour after around 3pm, reporting about two gunshots they heard.
“Upon arrival, officers interviewed a female child who had found her mother in the bathroom bleeding from gunshot wounds to her head. Reaction Officers entered the home and found the woman lying face up in a ground floor bathroom,” said RUSA.
Paramedics were also called to the scene and they declared the woman dead at 4pm.
RUSA officers interviewed the 16-year-old girl and she explained that when she returned home from school, her mother was in the bathroom and she gave her keys through the window so that she could let herself in.
“She then opened the door and two unknown men entered the home with her. They both produced firearms and one suspect escorted her and her one-year-old brother upstairs. She was asked not to speak or alert her mother,” explained RUSA.
While they went upstairs, the other gunman remained downstairs and ambushed the mother.
“A short while later she heard two gunshots and the men left immediately,” said RUSA.
When the girl ran downstairs, she found her mother bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound to the head.
It’s unclear what was the motive of the killing.