Overview

• The shooting occurred on October 2 at about 12:45 pm in Nothintwa locality, Ngcwanguba A/A in Mqanduli, Eastern Cape.
• Police registered a murder case against the eight-year-old and a failure-to-safeguard-firearm charge against his 48-year-old father at Kwaaiman police station.
• The father was released on warning and is scheduled to appear in the Mqanduli Magistrate’s Court on October 3.
• Officials say the eight-year-old accessed his father’s licensed gun in the father’s bedroom, pointed it at his cousin, and a shot went off, killing the seven-year-old.
• The case has renewed attention to safe gun storage, with coverage noting a July incident in Johannesburg where a five-year-old was reportedly killed by his minor brother while playing with a firearm.