JOHANNESBURG - The brother of one of the three Boxer managers killed in a shooting is still struggling to come to terms with her death.
He recalls rushing to the scene, desperately hoping his sister would survive.
The shooting was carried out allegedly by a former employee.
Thandiwe Chili, one of the three managers gunned down this week, is being buried.
Bheki Chili said he saw people running out of the store and though there might have been a robbery.
"In my mind, I thought it was a robbery. I thought that was why they were screaming.
But I couldn’t just leave without knowing what was happening. I tried calling her because I knew she was a manager. Someone else picked up the phone.
"I asked for the phone to be handed to its owner, but they repeatedly pushed me aside. That forced me to turn back and abandon the direction I was going in. I went back to Boxer.
I found that the authorities had cordoned off the place with danger tape and were not allowing people to go in.
"I forced my way in, even though the police didn’t want me to. I said I wanted to see my sister.
I found the other two lying on the floor together. My sister had been pulled out. I assume they were trying to find a way to rush her to hospital because she was still breathing.
"When the emergency services arrived to assist them, they kept trying to resuscitate her.
I got to her and touched her. I had hoped that, because they kept pumping her chest, she would survive.
In an instant, while I was with my cousin, I saw that they had covered her."