The Sunday News
Police have confirmed the murder of (South African) rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes was an assassination.
In a television interview, (South Africa) KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said from the evidence they collected, they had no doubt the murder was a hit.
Forbes (35), was shot dead with his friend, chef Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane, on Florida Road in Durban on Friday night.
Mkhwanazi said from what they had seen; two suspects had walked across the street. He said one gunman stood on the side of the road while the other walked around a parked car, went up to AKA from behind and shot him in the ear.
“He did not shoot the friend that was with him, but he shot AKA twice, and he ran away. The other criminal engaged and fired a couple of shots, and one of his bullets managed to strike Motsoane, and he died. We know the aim was to first kill AKA, and the second one could have killed any other person who was in the way. The distance where the second suspect was when he engaged that shot and the number of people in the firing line, the bullet could have hit anyone who was there. Unfortunately, it got him [Motsoane],” said Mkhwanazi.
Mkhwanazi said they believed the second suspect was firing to make sure no-one responded to the initial hit on AKA.
Without revealing much, Mkhwanazi said their investigation would entail checking everyone who was in contact with the AKA and Motsoane before they visited and left Wish on Florida restaurant.
He said they were also analysing the data on any other person who gathered immediately after the shooting.
He said that would help read the behaviour of all those who were at the crime scene to get an idea of whether the organisers of the hit were among the spectators after the shooting.
“We are checking any other lead that we can get. As for now, any other person that was closer to those people will remain a subject of investigation. Any other communication those two individuals had with whoever in any form of communication, those people will be subject to interrogation.
“Surely from our reading, he had an enemy somewhere — whether that enemy was a person who happened to be there at that time and decided to act in that way, or the enemy was travelling with him from whenever, or someone he might have had a grudge with in the past for reasons that are unknown. We are trying to piece everything together,” said Mkhwanazi.
He said for now they could not link anything to the murder. He said their main interest was to try to establish who AKA’s enemy was.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Col Robert Netshiunda confirmed on Tuesday investigations were continuing. (Source: www.sowetanlive.co.za)
