Seven family members shot dead at home in KZN

A five-year-old boy was among those killed in a shooting on a homestead in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal late Wednesday, police said. The oldest victim was a woman aged about 55, they said.

The motive for the attack in the Highflats region, about 80 kilometers northwest of the coastal city of Durban, was not yet known.

“We as police are convinced that it was an execution. It was a planned murder,” provincial police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi told reporters outside the house.

Some of the victims appeared to have been shot in the head while lying on the ground, he said. “In total, about 25 bullets were used.”

The gunmen entered the house while the family was watching television. They had a family member who was outside the house knock on the door and opened fire when it was opened.

South Africa has one of the highest murder rates per capita in the world in peacetime.

Nearly 6,200 people were murdered in the country between April and June, according to police figures released in August.

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