South Africans cannot just be murdered like flies‚ a stern-faced police minister Bheki Cele said on Thursday.

He was speaking to residents of Philippi in Cape Town who are still reeling after the bloody killing of four people – shot while sitting in a Toyota Avanza in the area on Tuesday night. A fifth person was critically injured.

Police spokesperson Andre Traut said the dead were aged 28‚ 19‚ 13 and 12.

“We cannot allow that South Africans be murdered like flies. The space is too small. It cannot be shared between criminals and citizens‚” Cele told more than 100 people gathered on the Browns Farm sports grounds on Thursday.

“We were here last night to visit the families but we found it proper to come and talk and brief the community. The investigation is better than yesterday‚ the recent information that we have that we did not have last night tells us that we might be not very far in finding the perpetrators of the violent crime‚” he said.

Cele said the motive for the shooting was still unclear. Residents told him about their experience of crime during a walkabout in the area.

“Moving around here many people said they are losing their cellphones. Some people have said there are break-ins where people take TVs. Some people talk about their cars being hijacked and stolen. So if I find you selling tyres when there are cars that are stolen and you (cannot explain) where you got your stuff‚ you must tell us otherwise your shop becomes a crime scene rather than a shop‚” he said.

Nyanga police station commander Brigadier Vuyisile Ncata said the eldest victim of the shooting incident‚ who was in the driver’s seat of the Avanza‚ was recently released from jail after a sentence related to a business robbery in Stellenbosch. He had been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and had been out of prison for a month.