South African police today launched a massive operation to find the killers of the national soccer team captain who was fatally shot during an apparent house robbery, underscoring the country's high rate of violent crime.
Goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa was killed yesterday after two gunmen entered a house he was visiting in Vosloorus township near Johannesburg while an accomplice waited outside, police said.
The 27-year-old Meyiwa was shot in the upper body, national police commissioner Gen. Riah Phiyega said at a news conference announcing the manhunt for the three suspects. Police also raised the reward to nearly USD 23,000, hoping to get more information to find Meyiwa's killers.
The goalkeeper was shot while trying to stop the intruders, who had demanded cellphones and money from people inside the home, said friend Tumelo Waka Madlala, who was at the house during the robbery.
"As they were running away we tried to stop them and that is when they shot him at point blank range," Madlala told The Associated Press.
Police said Meyiwa was shot as he moved toward the intruders. Another person in the house was struggling with one of the intruders when Meyiwa was shot, they said.
The house belonged to Meyiwa's girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo, a South African singer and celebrity, witnesses said. There were seven people in the house before the intruders entered, according to police. No one else was hurt. A cellphone was taken.
