The 72-hour mobilisation of maximum resources, that was activated by the South African Police Services, shortly after seven people were shot and fatally wounded at Q Section in Umlazi yielded positive results with the arrest of another suspect.
The murders took place over the weekend and the suspect was nabbed within that period.
Police spokesman Colonel Robert Netshiunda confirmed that seven people had been fatally wounded in the incident and one person is still in hospital.
According to initial reports, six people had died and two were in hospital but one of those had subsequently passed away.
Colonel Netshiunda said a multi-disciplinary team comprising officers from the Serious and Violent Crimes, Murder and Robbery Unit, Provincial Stabilisation Team, Phoenix Trio Task Team and Crime Intelligence, worked together to follow leads in Umbumbulu, Umlazi, Empandwini and Pitela.
“The identified suspect was cornered and arrested at a mall in Durban. We are expecting to take him to court soon. He will face seven charges of murder and one of attempted murder,” said Colonel Netshiunda.
It is believed the killings occurred over the possession of an identity document of a wanted suspect.
“Preliminary investigations have revealed that one of the suspects, who was leading the other three, demanded his identity document from the victims before shooting them. It is believed that he was implicated and is wanted by police for another murder in which he allegedly dropped his identity document accidentally. It is believed that one of the deceased was in possession of his identity document,” said Colonel Netshiunda.
He said four suspects had stormed into a house just before midnight and shot two people who were inside the house. One person was shot inside a back room while the fourth person was shot next to the outside toilet. He had also sustained burn wounds.