Somali shop assistant shot dead

2010-07-19 14:05

Hlengiwe Mnguni, News24

Cape Town - Western Cape police are searching for two men suspected of shooting and killing a Somali shop assistant at a tuck shop in Nyanga on Monday morning.

Police spokesperson Captain Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi said the owner of the shop - who was unhurt in the incident - told them that two men had walked up to the shop at Vlei Sweet Home Farms and demanded that the 19-year-old cashier open the shop's security door.

"While he was searching for the keys they shot him in the face," Sitshitshi said.

The two men then fled the scene on foot without gaining entry into the shop.

Although a number of Somali shopkeepers have had their shops looted and burned following rumours of an outbreak of xenophobic violence in the last week, Sitshitshi said police were not looking at the killing as an act of xenophobia.

"We have opened a case of murder. We don't view it as an act of xenophobia. It is a criminal act," she said.

Police are urging anybody with information or who might have witnessed the incident to contact the Nyanga police station on 021 380 3320/3376 or Crime Stop on 08600 10111.

- News24