Football player from South Africa shot and killed in a hijacking incident
SARLINGTON, South Africa — Luke Fleurs, a former junior international for South Africa who played for the most popular team in the nation, Kaizer Chiefs, was slain in an attempted kidnapping in Johannesburg, police said on Thursday.
On Wednesday night, the 24-year-old was shot in the chest at a gas station, and the attackers fled in his car.
“He was confronted by two armed males while waiting to be served by the petrol attendant,” police spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo told reporters, noting that no arrests had been made as of yet.
In 2021, center back Fleurs played every minute for South Africa during the Olympic Games in Tokyo. He was also called up to the senior team for the World Cup qualifiers against Ethiopia same year, although he was uncapped and did not get off the bench.
The news of this young life’s loss broke and devastated us as we woke up. For his colleagues, friends, family, and football in general, this is such a great loss. Danny Jordaan, president of the South African Football Association, released a statement saying, “We are all grieving this young man’s passing.”
Zizi Kodwa, the Minister of Sport, Arts, and Culture for South Africa, expressed his sadness at “yet another life cut short due to violent crime.”
Fleurs, who attended the Ubuntu Football Academy in Cape Town, transferred from SuperSport United to Chiefs in October.
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