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Police in North West are on the hunt for suspects after an elderly couple was gunned down in cold blood in the parking lot of a busy shopping centre in Rustenburg on Saturday afternoon — in broad daylight, nogal.
According to Colonel Adele Myburgh, the fatal shooting reportedly followed a confrontation with the occupants of a white Kia Rio with no number plates.
The motive is still a mystery, but whatever sparked it, the outcome was brutal: both victims were declared dead at the scene by paramedics.
The alleged trigger-happy suspects remain at large, and police say they’re armed, dangerous, and not exactly blending in with society, per IOL. The public is being urged to help crack the case.
“This senseless, gratuitous violence, which has led to the brutal slaying of the elderly couple in broad daylight, cannot and should not go unpunished,” said Acting Provincial Commissioner Major General Patrick Asaneng.
“I am calling upon the perpetrator(s) to listen to their conscience and hand themselves in immediately to the police before they are tracked.”
The cops will be tracking you.
“I have instructed the detectives and the tracking team not to rest until the perpetrators of this heinous crime are found.”
“Once again, those who have information about the identity and whereabouts of the suspect(s) must immediately come forward … and this request is directed to the friends and relatives of the suspects,” Asaneng added.
Anyone with info is urged to contact Lieutenant Colonel Mainganyo Nathaniël Phatsoane at 082 373 9571 or Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Murunwa at 082 772 599.
Blood on the Pavement, Stats in the Sky
This tragedy adds to the country’s grim tally of violence in public places. Just last month, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu revealed that 5,727 people were murdered between January and March 2025, per The Citizen. While that’s a dip from the 6,289 killings in the same period last year, let’s not roll out the champagne just yet.
Arguments, misunderstandings, road rage, and plain old provocation top the list of murder motives, with 1,137 deaths chalked up to petty conflict that escalated. Retaliation and revenge were behind another 436 killings.
Robberies accounted for 323 murders and 835 attempted murders.
Mchunu said the police are shifting tactics to respond to the new trends in crime, because when murder stats start to sound like lotto numbers, something’s got to give.
In the meantime, one elderly couple has paid the price for a parking-lot altercation gone horrifyingly wrong — and somewhere out there, the killers are still on the move.
