Louis van Schoor
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1951
Louis van Schoor | |
|---|---|
 Van Schoor photographed for an interview by the BBC in 2024 | |
| Born | Sybrand Jacobus Lodewikus van Schoor 1951 |
| Died | (aged 72) East London, South Africa |
| Other names | "The Apartheid Killer" |
| Criminal status | Deceased |
| Motive | White supremacy |
| Convictions | Murder (7 counts) Attempted murder (2 counts) |
| Criminal penalty | 20 years imprisonment |
| Details | |
| Victims | 9–39 |
Span of crimes | 1986–1989 |
| Country | South Africa |
Sybrand Jacobus Lodewikus "Louis" van Schoor (Afrikaans pronunciation: [ˈsibrant jaˈkuəbœs luədəˈvikœs fɑn ˈskuər], 1951 – 25 July 2024), known as the Apartheid Killer, was a South African mass killer, policeman, and security guard who committed murders between 1986 and 1989.[1] He was arrested in 1991 and convicted of seven murders and two attempted murders but was released on parole in 2004.[2] It is believed that the total number of his victims was 39, all of them in East London, South Africa. Thirty-two of the killings were described as "justifiable homicides" by police, while Schoor himself insisted that his victims were "criminals" whom he had caught in the act.[3]
Schoor died from sepsis to his leg on 25 July 2024, at the age of 72.[3]
Louis van Schoor was the father of Sabrina van Schoor, who was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison for hiring a hitman to murder her mother in 2002.[2] Both were incarcerated in Fort Glamorgan prison before Louis van Schoor's release in 2004.[2][4] Many black people celebrated Sabrina van Schoor for killing her mother, whom one of Sabrina's former boyfriends had described as "very arrogant and racist."[5]
Before he died in 2024, the BBC broadcast a four-year investigation by Isa Jacobsen as part of "World of Secrets. "The Apartheid Killer" was presented by Ayanda Charlie and Charlie Northcott in August 2024.[6] Van Schoor is quoted as saying "I’ve got no remorse inside because I don’t feel that I was wrong." The programme includes allegations that the police colluded in his crimes.[7] He had reported each death to the police and some who survived testified that he had toyed with them while needlessly attacking them.[8]