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A young man from Westbury has relived the terrifying moment his best friend died shielding him from a hail of bullets during a gang shooting that has once again shaken the crime-ridden Johannesburg suburb.
Eighteen-year-old Teagan Ruiters was killed instantly when gunmen opened fire on a group of teenagers sitting outside a house on Tuesday afternoon. His friend, Carl Mentor, narrowly survived — a bullet remains lodged beneath his ear, a permanent reminder of the chaos that erupted within seconds.
Mentor spoke from the same street where blood still stained the pavement, his voice unsteady as he described the moment that changed his life forever.
“We were sitting on the stoep with my friends when about five guys came and started shooting at us,” he said. “My friend tried to protect me — he laid over me while they were shooting. They hit him in the back. He died right there.”
The gunmen fled before police arrived, leaving behind shattered glass, spent cartridges, and a neighbourhood once again gripped by fear.
Mentor’s wounds are visible — bruises around his neck, a bandage under his ear — but it’s the emotional toll that cuts deeper. He insists he and his friends were not gang members, just ordinary young men caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“We don’t go to school anymore, but we are not gangsters,” he said quietly. “They’ve targeted us before. The first time they shot my neighbour in the leg. This time, we had nowhere to run.”
The attack has reignited anger in Westbury, a community long scarred by gang rivalries, unemployment, and mistrust of police. Many say they live in constant fear, trapped between rival groups who use residential streets as battlegrounds.
A grandmother of one of the victims said her family has been receiving death threats from suspected gang members on social media since the shooting.
“I’m so traumatised,” she said. “Now they’re even threatening me on Facebook. I don’t feel safe in my own home.”
She described the victims as “ordinary kids,” not criminals.
“They call our boys ‘Farados,’ but they’re just friends who hang out together — smoking hookah, gambling, listening to music. I’ve never seen them with guns. It’s unfair they are being hunted.”
Community members say they know who the shooters are but fear retaliation if they speak out. Police visibility remains low, and residents claim gunfire has become so common that children instinctively duck at the sound of a car backfiring.
“The shooting happens almost every week,” said one resident. “We report it, but nothing changes. They shoot, they disappear, and life just carries on.”
Police Minister Bheki Cele previously labelled Westbury a “war zone” following a spate of shootings in recent years. But for residents, the promises of intervention have brought little comfort.
National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola has since vowed to intensify operations, deploying the Anti-Gang Unit to hotspots across Johannesburg — including Westbury, Eldorado Park, and Langlaagte.
“We are on the heels of the suspects,” Masemola said in a statement. “So far, the Anti-Gang Unit has arrested 176 suspects for crimes including murder, possession of unlicensed firearms, and drug-related offences.”
He urged parents to come forward if they suspect their children are involved in gangs or carrying illegal weapons.
Yet, for many families, the damage is already irreversible.
The Ruiters family spent Wednesday preparing for Teagan’s funeral. Neighbours gathered around their small yard, lighting candles and singing hymns in his memory. His aunt described him as “a joker, a helper, someone who would give you his last R10 if you needed it.”
“He died saving his friend,” she said through tears. “That tells you everything about who he was.”
Four other survivors remain in hospital under police guard, with one in critical condition. Detectives say the motive behind the shooting appears to be linked to territorial retaliation between rival street gangs, though no arrests have yet been made.
A local pastor who has been mediating between feuding groups said the violence has reached unbearable levels.
“We’re losing a generation,” he said. “These are children. They are supposed to be at school, not dying in gunfights. The community has been crying out for help for years.”
Residents are demanding 24-hour patrols, stricter gun control, and social programmes to steer youth away from crime. But until those promises become action, they fear more young lives will be lost.
At sunset, a group of teenagers gathered quietly outside the house where the shooting took place. Someone placed a school photograph of Teagan on the ground beside a flickering candle. Others stood in silence, hands in pockets, staring down at the spot where he fell.
For Carl Mentor, every second of that day replays in his head — the laughter, the sudden gunfire, and the unbearable stillness that followed.
“He saved me,” he whispered. “I wish I could’ve saved him too.”
As police continue their manhunt and the Anti-Gang Unit sweeps the area, Westbury is left counting its dead once more — another young hero gone, another mother broken, another promise that justice will come.
But for a community that has buried too many of its children, justice still feels painfully far away.
