Manhunt launched after triple shooting at Gordon’s Bay Mall
A manhunt continues after three men were shot dead in the Gordon’s Bay Mall parking area.
Image: Facebook
Western Cape police have launched a manhunt following the fatal shooting of three men at the Gordon’s Bay Mall parking area on Tuesday night.
According to SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa, the victims, believed to be between 40 and 45 years old, were shot at about 9:30pm while sitting in a vehicle in the mall’s parking area.
“Preliminary information indicates that unknown suspects travelling in a vehicle approached the victims and opened fire,” Potelwa said. “Two victims succumbed to their injuries inside the vehicle, while a third was found outside the car. The suspects fled the scene thereafter.”
Gordon’s Bay police have opened a triple murder docket for investigation. The shooting is being investigated and is believed to be gang related. No arrests have been made.
Deputy Community Policing Forum (CPF) chair for the Khayelitsha sub-district and Gordon’s Bay resident Donovan Brown said the incident had left the community shocked and demanding answers.
“Three people are deceased, so of course the community is shocked. We usually deal with petty crime and housebreakings at worst, so everyone wants to know what’s going on,” Brown said.
He said community leaders were working to keep residents calm, but that limited information was available at this stage.
“It’s our job to keep people calm and to provide them with all the necessary information we have, but we don’t have much at this stage,” he said.
Brown added that reports circulating on social media suggesting arrests had been made had not been officially confirmed.
“There are some outlets reporting that people have been arrested and that it is gang related, but that’s all we have for now,” he said.
While murders at shopping centres are relatively uncommon, national police statistics show that parking areas and other public spaces remain the most frequent settings for fatal attacks. Between April and June 2025, SAPS recorded 2 910 murders in public places across South Africa, compared with 101 at business premises such as malls, highlighting the unusual nature of the Gordon’s Bay shooting.
The incident occurs against a broader Western Cape backdrop in which gang-related killings remain heavily concentrated, with the province accounting for the majority of such cases nationally during the same period, according to police.
It also comes amid broader national debate, with President Cyril Ramaphosa weighing the possible deployment of the SANDF to support police efforts against gang violence in the province. While some civil organisations have welcomed the move, citing pressure on policing resources, others have cautioned that the SANDF is not trained for routine policing and that such deployments carry operational risks.
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Cape Argus