South African police hunt attackers after mass shooting kills 12 in Johannesburg

Gunfire ripped through Jumpers informal settlement in Cleveland, east of Johannesburg, shortly after 11 p.m. on Tuesday, leaving 12 people dead and at least nine wounded. Police said more than 10 suspects were involved in the attack, and no arrests had been made as investigators searched for the group and tried to establish why the shooting happened.

South African Police Service officers said 11 victims died at the scene and a 12th died in hospital. The dead were reported to include nine men and three women. The suspects were said to have been driven to the settlement in a minibus or white van before opening fire on people in the community of tin shacks. Police said the attack was first reported at about 11:10 p.m., and the assault unfolded in the middle of one of Gauteng’s most densely vulnerable urban settlements.

The violence hit a country already overwhelmed by deadly crime. South Africa records more than 60 homicides a day on average, a toll that has made mass shootings a recurring source of fear in Johannesburg and beyond. In Jumpers, the attack added another layer of insecurity to a community that lives with limited protection and little margin for safety when armed groups move in.

Investigators were still working to determine the motive, and police appealed for public help as the manhunt continued. The absence of arrests left the community with immediate grief and few answers, while hospitals treated the wounded and authorities faced another reminder of how quickly violence can erupt in informal settlements that are often exposed to criminal networks, political neglect and weak policing.

The shooting now stands as the latest mass killing to shake Johannesburg, intensifying pressure on law enforcement in Gauteng and sharpening questions about why residents of informal settlements remain so exposed. For families in Jumpers, the scale of the attack was measured not only in the 12 dead, but in the fear that more than 10 armed suspects could still be at large.