SAPS hunt two suspects in Durban hospital execution

The South African Police Service (SAPS) are on the hunt for two men who entered a hospital in Durban and allegedly executed a patient.

The pair are alleged to have entered the Clairwood Hospital in Mobeni with the express purpose of murdering a foreign national in the facility, who was being treated for gunshot wounds.

Hospital murder shakes staff and patients

The men are understood to have forced their way past the guards before locating their target and shooting him in the head in what a health department spokesperson described as an ‘execution-style killing’.

“The armed men entered the Clairwood Hospital in Mobeni around 18:30 on Friday,” said SAPS spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala.

“[They] fatally shot a 47-year-old patient. He sustained a gunshot wound to the head.”

KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu said the fatal shooting took place in the male surgical ward of the hospital.

The disturbing scene played out in full view of the hospital staff and patients while security were unable to stop the armed men form carrying out their grizzly intentions.

The patient had been transferred from King Edward VIII Hospital to Clairwood on late last year for wound care and rehabilitation after sustaining gunshot wounds.

“It is alleged that… two unknown armed men stormed past hospital security guards, and proceeded to locate the man in his bed, and shot him in the head at point blank range, in full view of other patients and hospital staff. The suspects also forced their way out of the hospital by pointing guns at the hospital security guards,” said Simelane-Zulu. 

SAPS investigating murder

Having completed the alleged execution the two men fled the scene, threatening security guards at the hospital gates, which had been closed by the guards. The men then forced the gates open according to eyewitness accounts before fleeing in the vehicle they had driven into the grounds.

“Although it is not always possible to predict an incident of this nature, which appears well-planned, the fact that these perpetrators were able to escape without getting apprehended by security or law enforcement does call into question our preparedness as a department to react effectively to such acts,” said Simelane-Zulu.

“It means that our system is not as effective as we would have liked to think. Notwithstanding the fact that these people were armed, and that they also threatened our security guards, we should have had a system in place that ought to have made it difficult for them to get away.”

No arrests have been made as yet, the SAPS are investigating a case of murder.