Witnesses to the alleged road rage shooting in Emmarentia on Monday narrated how a “bumper-bashing accident” between two motorists escalated from an initial argument to a fist-fight to a fatal confrontation in front of two young children.
Car guard Xolani Makhoba, who watched the scene unfold on Sunday afternoon, saw the drivers attempt to overtake one another on Barry Hertzog Avenue, resulting in what he described as “minor contact between the vehicles”.
“Both drivers got out. One didn’t seem to care about the damage to the other’s car,” Makhoba said.
The argument quickly evolved from a verbal spat into a physical altercation between the two men.
The wife of one of the drivers then pulled a gun out of her Muslim Abaya-style dress, according to Makhoba. This is also the description of events described to TimesLIVE by a restaurant worker and a supermarket trolley attendant, who asked not to named.
She fired two warning shots into the air, they said, before attempting to hand the weapon to her husband. This appeared to be the action that prompted the driver of the second vehicle, who was also armed, to open fire in response.
Witnesses reported hearing from four to six gunshots fired.
The husband was fatally shot. Witnesses said his wife had wounds to her hand and shoulder.
The aftermath was described by the witnesses as grim and haunting.
One bystander described the heartbreaking sight of the deceased man’s two distraught children, one of whom attempted to save him through CPR.
Their mother, upset and bloodied, sat down on the road close to a bus stop and appeared to be making a phone call.
Immediately after the shooting, the surviving motorist placed his gun on the ground, they said. All parties waited for police and emergency personnel to arrive.
The witnesses and other staff on duty at businesses in the vicinity shared their shock, and how they struggled to focus on their duties after the distressing events.
A 58-year-old man was arrested and is due to face a charge of murder. He is scheduled to appear in the Johannesburg magistrate’s court on Tuesday.
TimesLIVE