Gunmen opened fire inside an unlicensed bar near South Africa’s capital early Saturday, killing 12 people and wounding 13 others, police said.
The attack occurred around 4:15 a.m. at a bar inside a hostel in the Saulsville township, located west of Pretoria, according to The Associated Press. Ten victims died at the scene. Two others succumbed to their injuries at the hospital.
Three children were among the dead, including a 3-year-old boy, a 12-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl.
Police are searching for three male suspects. (RELATED: Police Arrest University Of Delaware Student Who Allegedly Plotted Mass Shooting, Reportedly Sought ‘Martyrdom’)
“We are told that at least three unknown gunmen entered this hostel where a group of people were drinking, and they started randomly shooting,” police spokesperson Brig. Athlenda Mathe told national broadcaster SABC.
BREAKING: At least 11 people have been killed in a mass shooting at a bar in Pretoria, South Africa https://t.co/7u2zMPDEI2
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Mathe said the motive remains unclear. Authorities did not receive alerts about the shooting until 6 a.m., nearly two hours after the attack.
There have been several mass shootings at bars in South Africa in recent years. In 2022, gunmen killed 16 people at a bar in Soweto. That same day, four others died in a separate bar shooting in another province.
Mathe said mass shootings at unlicensed bars have become a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September and arrested over 18,000 people connected to illegal liquor sales.
South Africa recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024, averaging over 70 killings per day. Firearms remain the leading cause of death in these cases.
The country maintains strict gun ownership laws, but authorities say illegal weapons fuel much of the violence.
