Family and friends attended the funeral service of Mikhail “Ballackie” Amos on Saturday June 20, a day before he would have celebrated his 26th birthday.
Mikhail was shot and killed on Friday June 13 when gunmen, believed to be gang members, in a white bakkie opened fire in a notorious lane that runs between Dove Road and Cuckoo Crescent in Parkwood.
At the time of going to print, police had not yet made any arrests in the murder case.
Although only 50 people could attend the church service on Saturday because of national Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, Mikhail’s extended family, friends and soccer teammates from Lazio FC and Greenwood FC lined up on the road at the Klip Road cemetery wearing T-shirts printed with his picture, holding placards and chanting his name.
A memorial service was also held on Youth Day, Tuesday June 16, at a field in Acacia Road, Parkwood, to encourage young people to choose a better path than gangsterism.
Another young man, Kerstin Cupido, 21, was shot and killed on the corner of Seventh Avenue and First Road, Grassy Park, on Tuesday June 16 while Cheslyn Sabonga, 28, was shot and killed while laying in bed at his home in Urfield Road, Lavender Hill, on Wednesday June 17.
Anyone with information about these shooting incidents can contact Steenberg police on 021 702 9000 or Grassy Park police on 021 700 3940 or Crime Stop on 08600 10111.