After the brutal shooting of a 37 year old man in Kewtown on Thursday, Athlone police are determined to curb crime through their crime fighting programme Operation Combat. The operation is headed by cluster Major-General Robert Robbie, which involves police forces going into gang ridden areas performing intensive patrols such as stop-and-search operations. Police also aim to target shebeens and drug dens which they can confirm are crime infested hotspots.

“Various forces of police are going into gang ridden areas like Bommakerrie and Kewtown doing intensive patrols and searching drug houses and shebeens,” says Athlone police spokesperson, Constable Zeta Norman.

The man was walking with a friend when a perpetrator opened fire several times and shot the man at 1:31am in Kewtown on Thursday. The man died immediately on the scene after one bullet hit his chest.

“Several shots were fired at the victim while he tried to get away. A bullet hit him in the chest and arm and he died on the scene,” says station commander Colonel Krisjan Verwant, adding that the shooting is suspected to be gang related.

A 21 year old man was arrested in connection with the murder.

The perpetrator will appear at the Athlone Magistrate’s Court on Monday. VOC (Nailah Cornelissen)