Little Sadiqah Lippert was just a few steps from her grandmother’s doorstep on Monday evening when a stray bullet from a gang battle hit her in the stomach. Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of the 6-year-old in Athlone.

All she could mutter to her grandmother, Kamiela Lippert, as she lay bleeding on the ground, was: “I can’t get up.”

The Garlandale Primary Grade 1 pupil was caught in the crossfire of a shooting in Bokmakierie and later died in Groote Schuur Hospital.

She was buried on Tuesday.

Lippert said she was busy getting Sadiqah and her 10-year-old brother Khaeed ready to take them home to their mother in Kewtown, after they spent the weekend with her.

Sadiqah had asked her grandmother for a biscuit before going to wait outside, before the shots rang out.

“It was around 7pm and I went inside to get the urn because I wanted to take it with me and I heard the shots and ran out.

“At first I thought it was firecrackers, and I went outside and saw her lying there with her biscuits right next to her, and I told her to come inside and she said: ‘Ma, I can’t get up’.”

Lippert’s blood ran cold and she knew something was wrong.

She called for Sadiqah’s father, Sadick, who was down the road and he rushed into the yard to see his daughter bleeding on the pavement.

“My son, her father, picked her up and put her in the car and took her to the hospital.”

Sadiqah underwent emergency surgery and was put on life support at Groote Schuur before being pronounced dead early Tuesday.

Her grandmother and another relative, Shinaaz Hassen, who was paying her respects at the home in Bokmakierie, said Sadiqah was a fighter and held on for as long as she could.

“She was a very vibrant child. She was a people’s person. She always came to my house and she was so friendly. This was really senseless,” said Hassen.

Another neighbour, Ruwayda Smith, who paid her respects to the family, called the perpetrators cowards for shooting an innocent child.

“We have the right to be outside, but because of them we are not free and that is sad. Our kids should be able to go outside, but instead we have to stay locked up in our houses like criminals.”

Western Cape Community Safety MEC Dan Plato also paid his respects to the family, and confirmed the arrest of two suspects in the shooting.

“This is a shocking incident. Our children are not safe anymore and we cannot tolerate it anymore. Communities need to stay together and vigilant.”

CPF spokesman Hanif Loonat said the incident was gang-related and it was “totally unfair” that a young life was taken in such a manner.

“This area hasn’t had any gang-related incidents for something like two years. This has to stop, we can’t afford to lose any more young and innocent people.”

Police spokeswoman Constable Noloyiso Rwexana confirmed the incident and said police were investigating a case of murder.

[Source: Cape Argus]