Two suspects arrested for murder of DJ Warras following police interrogation

Two suspects have been arrested and will be charged for the fatal shooting of Warrick Stock, also known as DJ Warras, in Joburg’s CBD on 16 December.

They are expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 24 December.

Stock was in the entertainment industry and also involved in private security.

Several people in both sectors have been murdered in recent years, especially in Gauteng.

It was reported that in the month before Stock was murdered, he took out a protection order in relation to a hijacked building in central Johannesburg where he was doing security work.

Questioned and arrested

On Tuesday, 22 December, police spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili said there had been a breakthrough in the case, which has garnered widespread attention and been reported internationally.

“The two people of interest brought in for questioning have been detained by the Serious and Violent Crime Investigations team,” she said. “They will be charged with the murder of DJ Warras.”

No further details were provided, and it was not immediately clear whether other suspects face arrest.

The SABC reported that Stock’s funeral was expected to be held on Tuesday.

On Friday, 19 December, National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola told reporters that “a suspect has been identified and he [will] be arrested before Monday. He’s a known suspect… Over the weekend, that suspect will be arrested.”

The day before Masemola made those comments, Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Tintswalo Sibeko said “three unknown suspects” had approached Stock just after he had parked his vehicle.

“They opened fire at him before fleeing the scene on foot. The motive for the shooting is currently unknown,” said Sibeko.

‘A gun in the hands of evil’

A memorial was held for Stock in Johannesburg on Friday.

His sister Nicole Stock, addressing mourners, said: “This is not where his voice should’ve ended, this is where it should’ve been loudest.”

She said her brother had thought “in layers not lines” and to him “words without action meant nothing.”

She said her brother had been especially vocal about guns because he “loved guns,” but he was realistic about how these could be used.

“He was very vocal about … how a weapon in the hands of evil not just kills a person, it destroys families, futures, and generations. And today I must say this plainly: it was a gun in the hands of evil that stole my brother, and that stole our brother… He did not glorify force. He grieved it.”

Police scandal backdrop

Stock’s murder is backdropped by the scandal involving accusations that a drug trafficking cartel has infiltrated South Africa’s criminal justice system, politics and private security.

Among those implicated in the scandal is Katiso “KT” Molefe, who faces charges in connection with the November 2022 murder of Oupa John Sefoka, better known as DJ Sumbody.

A few months before that, in March 2022, Hector Buthelezi, also known as DJ Vintos, was fatally shot.

Read more: From power cuts to parliamentary hearings: the dark web of South Africa’s law enforcement scandal

It is the State’s case that Molefe is “linked to an alleged organised crime network targeting DJs”.

KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi previously alleged that the DJ murders were connected to a R200-million cocaine consignment that was stolen from the Hawks’ offices in Port Shepstone in November 2021 in what was widely viewed as an inside job. DM