The apparent gunman believed to have wounded alleged Sexy Boys gang leader Jerome “Donkie” Booysen at a Cape Town mall on Wednesday was killed when the firearm he was using jammed, sources have said.

This, they say, likely prevented Booysen from being further wounded.

A bullet struck Booysen in one of his arms, while the man believed to have shot Booysen was struck in the head.

READ: Jerome ‘Donkie’ Booysen wounded in another shooting, 1 other killed

He appeared to have been shot inside a restaurant, the Spur, in a mall in Kuils River.

A photograph of the man who had a bullet wound to the head, which News24 has seen, shows him on his back, with his eyes closed as paramedics tend to him. Blood spatters are near his head on the restaurant floor.  

News24 understands a relative of Booysen’s was temporarily held in custody on Wednesday in relation to a firearm, but this relative was later released.

Firearms which were also seized after the shooting were returned.

Booysen’s relative released after arrest, seized firearms returned

Lawyer Bruce Hendricks, acting on behalf of Booysen, confirmed to News24 late on Wednesday that the relative was arrested at the hospital where Booysen was being treated, along with a second person.

Hendricks confirmed she was released and that firearms, belonging to Booysen’s relatives, were returned after being seized by Hawks officers.

The shooting marks the sixth time Booysen has been targeted in roughly a year.

He was previously shot at five times and in two incidents, he was wounded.

Murder may lead to mastermind behind attacks

News24 understands that some believe the murder of the apparent gunman may point fingers at who has been ordering the attacks on Booysen.

Some believe the man who was killed may have links to the 28s gang, however, this claim was not officially provided.

It is understood he may also have had links to the Hard Livings gang.

In October last year, Booysen was wounded inside the Cape Town International Airport and a second man was also struck by a stray bullet.

At the time, sources said it may have been retaliation for the shooting at Cubana in Plein Street, Stellenbosch, which happened days earlier.

Alleged 28s links

Donovan Jacobs, who sources identified as a 28s gang member, was killed in the Stellenbosch incident, as was Nicole Muller, 30, a Kuils River mother of two young boys, who was at the club to celebrate a friend’s 30th birthday.

READ: Cape Town airport hit on alleged gang boss could be revenge for Stellenbosch club killing

Sources said Jacobs had been the target of that shooting and that Booysen was shot on Wednesday morning in retaliation for this incident.

In June, during an exclusive interview with News24, Booysen referred to the airport shooting, saying he had been wounded five times in a national keypoint, yet no arrests were made.

The night after this shooting, there was a skirmish at the medical facility he was being treated at.

Some sources had said that two men were trying to get to someone close to Booysen.

Start of the spate of attacks

The spate of shootings on Booysen started on May 8, 2017.

He had been wounded in the neck while on his way to extend his condolences to the family of Deon Williams, who had been shot dead that same day near Elsies River.

Booysen said he had worked in the area about two decades earlier, knew Williams’ family, and had been on the way to extend his condolences to them when he was wounded.

Nightclub security saga

This attack came two months after an auction in Parow which marked the start of a massive nightclub security takeover in Cape Town which has resulted in violence.

Suspected underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack allegedly headed up the takeover – it previously emerged in a court case that Modack wanted to wrestle power in the nightclub security scene from a more established grouping. This grouping allegedly consisted of members including Booysen, as well as businessman Mark Lifman and Andre Naude.

Modack, as well as Colin Booysen – who is Jerome Booysen’s brother – Jacques Cronje, Ashley Fields, and Carl Lakay, were arrested in December 2017 and face extortion charges relating to nightclub security.

They are to go on trial.

Previously, during their bail application in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court, Colin Booysen’s lawyer Bruce Hendricks claimed that Lifman controlled certain police officers.

READ: Cops and corruption claims: Police ‘tensions’ emerge in Modack extortion case

It also emerged that Modack claimed that Major General Jeremy Vearey, who heads up the detectives in the Western Cape and who was instrumental in Modack’s arrest, was on the police’s payroll.

In June, when talking to News24, Booysen said he was not interested in gangsterism.

“Where the people come on with this gangsterism and gangster stuff, they must come and prove it to me because maybe I don’t have a lot of friends in the police and that’s why they can point fingers because they [are] pointing the finger away from them,” he said.