UPDATE: Shocked flatmate recounts Hillbrow family murder

Police are investigating the gruesome killing of three women and two children at about 8pm on Monday at the Madison Square building in Hillbrow, Johannesburg.

An armed man allegedly shot and killed the family inside their ninth-floor apartment.

Witnesses, who arrived shortly after the shooting, said the only survivor was a two-year-old child believed to be the daughter of a visitor, City Buzz reported.

Hillbrow police spokesperson Sergeant Mduduzi Zondo said: “In all my experience, I’ve never seen such. It is truly disturbing, especially where young children are concerned. But all will be unravelled once a suspect has been arrested.”

The victims included a 21-year-old woman and her child, her eight-year-old brother, their mother and a visiting female friend.

READ MORE: Man kills two children, three women in Hillbrow

“I cannot divulge information relating to the recovery of any incriminating fingerprints or evidence, as it is still too early in the investigation,” he said.

Meanwhile, shocked neighbours and witnesses said they heard gunshots at about 8pm.

“I was on the seventh floor making my way up when I heard four loud sounds, but thought it to be rubbish being thrown out on to the ground from up top,” said a flatmate (name withheld), who moved in with the victims in September 2015.

He said he was first on the scene shortly before 8pm but did not see the perpetrator.

“I did not see the suspect. I heard sounds that I could not place as I was making my way to a flat on the 12th floor. I went back to my flat a few minutes later.”

He said when he got there, he found the door to the victims’ room locked, and there were keys on the floor outside the door.

“I unlocked the door and was horrified at what I saw.”

“I didn’t expect to see what I saw. I noticed a body lying in the bathroom and another two in the bedroom area. My immediate reaction was to close the door behind me and to go downstairs to inform the on-duty security.”

There was a pool of blood on the bathroom floor and blood stains on the bedroom door and wall. A blood-soaked duvet lay on the floor.

Neighbours described the murdered family, said to be originally from KwaZulu-Natal, as peace-loving, private people.

All three security guards who were on night duty said they did not see anything.

Police are currently viewing the building’s CCTV footage.

– Caxton News Service

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