12 killed in mass shooting near Johannesburg settlement

Gunmen killed 12 people and wounded at least nine others in a late-night attack on the Jumpers informal settlement in Cleveland, east of Johannesburg, in one of the most brazen mass shootings to hit Gauteng this year. Police said more than 10 suspects took part in the assault, arriving in a minibus or white van and fleeing in the same vehicle after moving through the settlement and firing at multiple locations.

The shooting unfolded at about 11:10 p.m. local time on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Police said the attackers entered through both entrances to the informal settlement, then opened fire on residents and community members as they moved through the area. Eleven victims died at the scene, and a 12th later died in hospital. Police said the dead were nine males and three females.

No arrests had been made by Wednesday morning, and the motive remained unclear. South African Police Service and Gauteng Police officials said a manhunt was under way for the attackers. The scale of the operation, with more than 10 suspects allegedly dropped off together and leaving together after the shooting, pointed to a coordinated attack rather than a spontaneous burst of violence.

Investigators are also looking at whether the Cleveland area’s links to illegal mining activity may be relevant, although authorities have not confirmed any connection. That possibility matters because the shooting came in a part of Johannesburg already associated in some reports with criminal networks competing for turf, protection money or control over illicit activity. Police have not said whether the victims were targeted individually or whether the attack was meant to send a broader message.

The killings add to South Africa’s wider crisis of violent crime and firearm deaths. The country has one of the world’s highest murder rates, averaging about 60 murders a day, and repeated mass shootings have sharpened alarm over safety in informal settlements where policing is often thin and escape routes are easy to exploit. In Cleveland, the methodical way the attackers entered, shot and fled underscored a deeper security problem: not just the loss of 12 lives, but the apparent ease with which an armed group could carry out a coordinated assault in a populated settlement and disappear before dawn.