Luke Tibbetts – the three year old boy that was shot in the head during an apparent gang fight in Westbury on 2 August, died earlier today.
The toddler was sitting on his mother’s lap in the backseat of a car when a stray bullet hit him. “There was a back-and-forth shooting between two groups of people on the corner of Statler and Croesus streets, Westbury. The family was driving by and one of the stray bullets hit the car and the toddler in it,” Warrant Officer TJ de Bruyn, spokesperson for Sophiatown Police Station reported.
After the incident, the shocked family rushed the four-year old to nearby Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital. Luke had been on life-support at the Garden City Private Clinic and sustained brain damage.
A 26-year old man also passing by was shot in the arm, and has since been discharged from hospital.
Bystanders who witnessed the shooting identified the alleged culprit and reported him to the police, said Warrant Officer Gordon Billing.
Warrant Officer de Bruyn confirmed that a man (22) had been arrested in Westbury on Sunday in connection with the incident.
The man has been charged with the attempted murder and is expected to appear in the Sophiatown Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
