Tears of awful pain flowed on Wednesday at the home of a three-year-old girl who was gunned down in gang crossfire while sitting outside her home in Eerste River.
Little Marilyn Adams was hit in the head and declared dead on arrival at hospital.
“They should have just shot us all dead because the pain I am feeling now is unbearable, I want to die at this moment,” her heartbroken father Hendry Konolo, 52, cries.
The family was sitting around a fire on Tuesday at about 8.30pm to keep warm when a car stopped near their house in Normandie Street, Heather Park, and three men jumped out and opened fire indiscriminately on people in the street.
It is alleged that the shooters are from a rival gang who were retaliating for an earlier incident.
Mom Susanna Adams, 42, grabbed her tiny daughter and crawled inside the house, thinking they had escaped the hail of bullets.
“We entered the house, I felt something warm flowing on my arm,” the distraught mom tells the Daily Voice.
“We realised that she was hit and a car rushed her to the hospital. When we put her on the hospital bed, she was already gone.”
Hendry cried uncontrollably over the loss of her daughter.
“If they were shooting directly at us, we would have all died because there were too many bullets,” the father says.
The parents were inconsolable and to make things worse, the family went to check their funeral policy only to discover that Marilyn was not covered.
Hendry says they don’t know how they are going to bury her now.
“We are not working and we will not be able to bury this child,” says Hendry.
“I am in pain and there is nothing that can take this pain away. I lost my child in a painful way.”
Relative Bishop Alexander, who assists in rehabilitating gangsters in the area, says police and government are not doing enough to stop gang violence.
“We are told we have the best constitution in the world, but children are killed like this. I want the government to come and explain to this family how their daughter died when we have a constitution that protects citizens,” he says.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa confirmed the incident and said several suspects were nabbed following the shooting, although they have not be linked to the murder yet.
“Members of the Anti-Gang Unit deployed on the scene followed up on suspicious movement in a nearby house.
“The information led them to another house in the same street. Upon searching the house, they found five firearms including a shotgun.
“Two teenagers were among the five suspects arrested in the search.”
“The suspects have been charged with possession of illegal firearms.”
To assist with the burial can call Bishop Alexander on 067 169 5995.