Flowers and candles are pictured outside Poppy's in Melville on 2 January 2020, where two women were killed when a man opened fire in the early hours of 1 January 2020. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark
In the early hours of New Year’s Day 2020, a mass shooting at a busy Melville restaurant left Mortimer Williams in hospital with a bullet wound.
A year later, the veteran South African actor says he’s recovering well and that the harrowing experience has given him a new outlook on life.
“I see things totally differently after having come that close,” Williams said. “I know now how short life is.”
The shooting took place at Poppy’s restaurant, at around 1am. It left two dead and six – among them Williams – injured. To date, no arrests have been made.
Williams, who has starred in a number of local shows, including Erfsondes, Skeem Saam, Isidingo and 7de Laan, had been performing a New Year’s Eve show at Poppy’s and was exchanging well wishes with friends he had spotted from across the room, when they came under fire.
He was shot in the kidney and suffered a bullet graze to his hip but he is now fighting fit.
“Physically, I’m basically back to normal,” he said. There’s a little bit of pain here and there occasionally – it depends on the weather, if it’s cold the muscles tense up – but that’s about it”.
He said the experience had also taken a toll on him mentally – something the Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown had brought him face-to-face with.
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“I think at the beginning of the year – after the incident – I was busy with work and whatnot, so the focus was off it,” he said.
“But when Covid-19 happened, it made me sit and think and reflect. And that’s when it starts to eat at you”.
However, he managed to pull through.
“I’ve been seeing counsellors and they’ve helped a lot. My family’s also been very understanding throughout and I think that’s helped a lot,” he said, adding it was all about your mindset.
“I’m just looking at the positives,” he said.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said this month no arrests had been made in connection with the shooting at Poppy’s, or another shooting that took place at Mary Fitzgerald Square just hours later and left 11 injured.
This year, five suspects arrested in a separate case were thought to be linked to the shooting at Poppy’s, but they were later cleared of any involvement.
Peters said investigations in both cases were ongoing.
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