Police have arrested two suspects linked to the shooting of a five-year-old boy, Ditebogo Junior Phalane, in Soshanguve block UU during a car hijacking last week.
Gauteng Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni made the announcement this morning.
Ditebogo Junior was shot when his father was hijacked by a group of armed men outside their Soshanguve home in Tshwane last week.
The little boy had gone outside to welcome his father who had just arrived home when the criminals accosted him. Ditebogo was rushed to Botshilong Hospital, where he was certified dead upon arrival.
After the incident, police immediately launched a manhunt for the suspects and pleaded for anyone with information to come forward.
Mthombeni said the suspects were arrested in two locations in Soshanguve this week and that they were found in possession of unlicensed firearms.
“In one location, we found a suspect not too far from the crime scene, and we arrested the second suspect [also] in possession of an unlicensed firearm,” Mthombeni said.
He said one of the firearms has been linked to a car hijacking committed in 2023 in Akasia.
Mthombeni said the police went to a third location to look for a third suspect but could not find him. They instead found a vehicle reportedly stolen in Mabopane, and it is believed that the vehicle was used during the shooting of the five-year-old boy.
According to the police, a firearm believed to have been used in the shooting of the five-year-old has been found.
The police said one of the suspects is a South African and they believe that the other suspects are foreign nationals.
Police Minister Bheki Cele visited the Phalane family and later held a crime prevention imbizo in the community of Jukulyn in Soshanguve. He promised to get to the bottom of rampant crime in the area, especially killings.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink has also visited the family. – SAnews.gov.za
