Cape Town - A stabbing incident in the early hours of Sunday morning ended with a 7-year-old girl shot in the stomach.
According to police, a 15-year-old boy was stabbed in Ottery and the fight spilled over into the afternoon when a retired officer and his son were attacked by alleged gang members.
A shooting started and little Kiara Hendricks, 7, a Grade 1 learner at the Crystal House, was shot in the stomach.
She was playing with her friends at Hoogenoeg Court, Ottery, when the stray bullet struck her.
Her brother Craig Hammond said: “She managed to get home by herself. I saw blood on her arm. When I asked she told me that it was from her stomach. I carried her from the stairs and then to the lounge.
“We drove her to the Victoria hospital.”
The girl’s father, David Dilgee, said she was talking all the way to hospital.
“I tried to keep her calm and I was happy that she could at least talk. She's a chatterbox so that was no trouble at all.
“We thank God that she is still alive but I am not happy that the doctors wanted to send her home with the bullet now lodged in her collar bone.
“We want them to remove it, we understand that she is no longer in danger.”
Grassy Park station commander Colonel Dawood Laing said the retired officer and his son were injured during the altercation.
“The gangsters attacked the ex-officer and his son and he fired a warning shot. The gangsters then fired two shots and it was later found that the girl was hit.
“The father and son were badly assaulted and they were taken to hospital.
“The gangsters managed to take the legal firearm which belongs to the retired officer.”
Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said Grassy Park police registered an attempted murder case following the shooting incident.
“According to reports, the victim was playing outside the flat, where she was shot and injured in the chest during cross fire between gangs. She was taken to a nearby medical facility for treatment.”
Anyone with any information on the incident is requested to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111.