Three people, including a nine-year-old boy, were shot dead in what residents call a “horror house” in Mitchells Plain on Tuesday night, in yet another brutal episode of gang-linked violence on the Cape Flats.
The triple murder unfolded at a property in Viscount Street, a council-owned house long notorious among locals as a base for gang operations. Inside, police found the bodies of a 9-year-old child, a 21-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man. Two other men, aged 36 and 51, were critically wounded and rushed to hospital.
A blood-spattered toy car lay next to the body of young Zacariah Bailey, the boy gunned down in the attack. The image has come to symbolise the cruelty of the shooting and the vulnerability of children growing up in gang-plagued neighbourhoods.
Western Cape police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut confirmed the deaths and the injuries, and said the victims were not related. He added that Anti-Gang Unit detectives had been assigned to the case and are pursuing “several promising leads”.
Police say four unidentified gunmen stormed the Viscount Street premises on Tuesday night. The attackers unleashed a volley of bullets outside before entering the house, where they opened fire on those inside, killing Zacariah, the young woman and the 26-year-old man.
Why the nine-year-old was inside a house so closely associated with gang activity remains unclear. For residents and community activists, that unanswered question only deepens the sense of anger and despair.
Mitchells Plain station commander Brigadier Brian Muller said officers were already patrolling nearby when alerts about the shooting came through.
“At this stage, we cannot identify if the gunmen were from the area or from outside Mitchells Plain,” he added.
He confirmed what many locals have long known: the house is deeply entangled in gang warfare.
He said the house, which was once controlled by the Americans gang, had since been taken over by the Fancy Boys.
No firearms were found on the site, a point that has fuelled suspicions among residents that the gunmen were able to flee quickly and that those using the house are well aware of police monitoring.
To the Cape Flats Safety Forum, the killings were not only horrific but also predictable and preventable.
The organisation’s secretary, Lynn Phillips, said the property had long functioned as a base for gang operations.
“It’s a horror house. There have been many murders in that house over the years, and still nothing is being done to either shut it down or have it demolished. It is a problematic property,” Phillips said.
She said the house is owned by the City of Cape Town, and demanded urgent, decisive action from the authorities.
“That house must be demolished. People are dying there on a regular basis. That little boy, Zacariah Bailey, was collateral damage and should not have been killed in such a manner. How cruel does one have to be to openly shoot dead a child, an innocent child?” she said.
Phillips described the scene as haunting and said the sight of the toy car next to the child’s body would stay with her.
“It’s just heartbreaking stuff. All I can think of is that he was playing with his toy when those thugs came and shot at everyone inside,” she said.
Neighbours, too frightened to be named, painted a grim picture of life next to what has effectively become an open gang post.
Two neighbours, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fears for their safety, said the house had been a hub for drug use and “gang operations”.
One resident said police surveillance of the property was well-known in the community.
“That is a known gang house. They know for a fact that police monitor that house, which is why police were not able to find guns there on Tuesday, or a few weeks ago when the house was raided,” the neighbour said.
Another local recalled the rapid, relentless gunfire that tore through the night.
“The shooting just went on and on. It’s like it wasn’t going to stop. The dogs were barking like mad, and the children inside my house were screaming. It really was like a movie,” she said.
For many in the area, the Viscount Street property has become a symbol of the state’s failure to break entrenched gang networks. Residents say repeated warnings about the house, and past murders linked to it, have not translated into lasting change on the ground.
Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Thembisile Patekile condemned the attack and vowed a hard line against those responsible and the gangs they serve.
“This cowardly and senseless act will not go unanswered. Gangsterism has no place in our society. We will not allow criminals to hold our communities hostage through fear and violence,” he said.
“The South African Police Service will not relent. We will tighten the net around these criminal elements and ensure that every individual involved in violent gang activity is brought before the law.”
Patekile issued a direct warning to gang members: “Your days of terror are numbered. We are coming, and we will ensure you face the full might of the law.”
Despite these assurances, there is deep frustration among community workers and residents who insist that without action on known gang houses and more visible, sustained policing, children will continue to be caught in the crossfire.
The tragedy has once again thrown a harsh light on the long-running battle over council-owned properties on the Cape Flats, some of which have been abandoned or hijacked and turned into drug dens and gang strongholds.
Phillips and other activists argue that decisive steps, such as expropriation, demolition or secure redevelopment of such properties, are essential if the cycle of violence is to be broken. They say the Viscount Street house stands as proof of what happens when known hotspots are allowed to operate unchecked.
For now, Anti-Gang Unit detectives are trying to trace the four gunmen who burst into the property and left three people dead. No arrests have yet been made in connection with the incident.
The City of Cape Town has been approached for comment, which will be added once received. Meanwhile, a community is left mourning a child whose life ended next to a bloodied toy, in a house everyone knew was dangerous but that, for years, remained open for business.
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