Jooste Ilse

Age 14. The horrific incident transpired at approximately 2:30 PM just as Lynette Jooste arrived home from Monument High School accompanied by her two teenage daughters, fourteen-year-old Ilse and sixteen-year-old Yolande. Immediately after arriving, young Ilse walked into her bedroom. When she re-emerged into the main living quarters a few moments later, she was met with a terrifying scene as an armed intruder was holding her mother hostage at gunpoint. Having been trained by her family in the safe deployment of home-defense firearms, the brave fourteen-year-old turned around and sprinted directly toward the household gun safe in a desperate bid to retrieve a weapon and defend her family.The gunman chased after her into the room, cut off her path, and demanded that she open the safe. When she could not comply, the attacker callously opened fire at point-blank range, shooting Ilse Jooste directly in the stomach and the chin, inflicting catastrophic injuries that killed her instantly. The gunman then turned his firearm on the mother, shooting Lynette Jooste in the side and chest, causing fatal trauma. The attacker also targeted the sixteen-year-old sister, Yolande Jooste, shooting her and leaving her critically wounded on the floor before ransacking the property. Yolande survived the initial shooting and was rushed by emergency services to a local hospital in critical condition, where medical teams fought to stabilize her.