A Johannesburg husband was fatally shot several times in the chest as two men — one of them armed — broke into his family's home in a gated community in Randpark Ridge on Sunday.

The man's wife was shot in the leg and is in a critical condition in hospital.

According to a local security service, the family of five was attacked in a home invasion. Community Support Services (CSS) released a detailed account of the incident on Monday afternoon.

According to CSS, two members of the family were young children. They claim the attackers entered the house and tied up a family member who was in the downstairs part of the house. The attackers then took the victim upstairs, to where they say the rest of the “grown-up family members came into direct contact with the attackers.

“At this point, a scuffle broke out and five shots were set off by the attackers striking the father and mother,” the company said.

CSS said this was an isolated incident and there was “critical information that cannot be divulged pointing towards the current investigation”.

According to a former resident of the complex, the gated community has had robberies at gunpoint in the past. The resident did not want to be named for fear of retribution.

The former resident said the complex could be seen as an easy target because there was “no security” at the remote access gate, and it also had easy escape routes as it was bordered by a freeway on one side and a field on the other.

A phone call to the estate on Monday afternoon revealed that police and crime scene investigators were combing through evidence at the scene.

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