A Gunman Kills at Least 4 People in Shooting After South Africa Memorial Service

5:30 AM EDT, October 14, 2026

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A gunman fired on a group of mourners leaving a memorial service for a local politician in South Africa, killing at least four people and injuring three others, police said Wednesday.

At least one of those wounded in the shooting late Tuesday in Katlehong township was a child, according to police, who said the suspect was in custody after turning himself in.

Police initially said two men died at the scene southeast of Johannesburg, but authorities raised the death toll to four after two more people died in a hospital on Wednesday.

The shooting is being investigated by a political killings task team, the South African Police Service said in a statement.

Some of the victims were members of the youth league of the African National Congress party, the largest party in South Africa’s Parliament, according to local media reports, which said the memorial service was for a woman who served as a local ANC leader and died in what was suspected to be a politically motivated shooting earlier this month.

Police did not immediately confirm the identity of the victims and only said they had attended a memorial for a “member of a political party.”

South Africa has high rates of gun crime, including shootings related to local political rivalries.

A report earlier this month by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime said there had been 43 killings in South Africa this year that were suspected to be politically motivated.

South Africa will hold local elections on Nov. 4 to decide which parties control municipal councils.