Grootvlei: Three suspects, aged between 24 and 33, have been arrested following a spate of violent attacks in Grootvlei that left a 39-year-old, off-duty police sergeant and a civilian dead, while three more narrowly escaped gunfire during a shooting spree on Wednesday night, 17 September 2025.

According to South African Police Service, an off-duty police officer, attached to the Grootvlei Police Station, was fatally shot while returning home from a local shop in an informal settlement in Grootvlei. The suspects fled the scene in a white seven-seater, Suzuki vehicle.

On the same night, a 32-year-old man was allegedly shot and killed at his home after suspects forced entry into his residence in the same settlement. While another man, aged 34, was also allegedly targeted in his home, where suspects are said to have called him to the window before opening fire. He is reported to have survived unscathed.

In the last incident, a 17-year-old girl and a 33-year-old woman were allegedly accosted by suspects in a white Suzuki vehicle who opened fire on them, and neither were reported to have been injured. The motive for the attacks remains unknown and forms part of ongoing investigations.

The Acting Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Mpumalanga, Major General (Dr) Zeph Mkhwanazi, commended the swift action and collaboration of the multidisciplinary team comprising the SAPS, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (Hawks), Crime Intelligence, Grootvlei Visible Policing, farmers, and other role players in the community. ‘These callous criminals who went on a rampage attacking innocent members of the community must account for their actions. Moreover, an attack on a police official is a direct attack on the State and the rule of law. Such perpetrators rob communities of their right to safety, as police members exist to ensure the protection of society,’ said Major General Mkhwanazi.

The three suspects are expected to appear in the Balfour Magistrate’s Court soon.