SOUTH AFRICA: A South African man shot 10 people dead after a row with his girlfriend before turning the gun on himself, police said yesterday.
The shooting in a black township in the coastal city of East London was the latest in a string of murders that has earned South Africa a reputation as one of worst countries for violent crime.
Police named the killer as Bulelani Vukwane (29). "Family members were killed in a brutal way. This is the first time in my 16 years of service that I've seen so many policemen emotionally touched," Mr Gops Govender, head of East London's police detective unit said. "We are attributing it to a failed relationship," Mr Govender said.
Vukwane's killing spree was triggered when he failed to find his girlfriend at her home during a family function.
In his search for his girlfriend, he went to a local bar and discovering she was not there he shot the owner, Nosisi Skweyiya (59), Govender said.
Returning to the girlfriend's house and finding her there, Vukwane shot her point blank in the head with a pistol and then shot her father, his third victim.
Seven others, including innocent people in the bar, passing motorists and pedestrians, were gunned down before Vukwane shot himself after being surrounded by police.
Police used a stun grenade against the killer in an attempt to stop further deaths, police said.
Seven other people sustained bullet wounds and were rushed to hospital where they were in a serious but stable condition, the South African Press Association (SAPA) reported.
Police described the killer as a ticking bomb.
More than 15,000 reported cases of murder in the first nine months of last year equalled the US total in 2000, even though the US population is more than six times bigger.