Lionsgate
- A vigilante in South Africa has been nicknamed “John Wick” after picking off members of a brutal gang
- The lone wolf has become an urban legend in a local community for targeting Boko Haram
- Read more crime news here
John Wick was one of the most refreshing and original action movies we’ve been treated to in recent memory, as I don’t know many people who didn’t thoroughly enjoy the first installment of a movie franchise that centered around an expert assassin exacting revenge on the group of Russian gangsters who made the fatal mistake of killing his dog.
When you consider the John Wick movies take place in a universe where the world’s best contract killers all stay at the same hotel and feature a title character who dispatched multiple people using nothing but a pencil, it’s safe to say they’re not exactly built on a foundation of grounded realism.
However, according to multiple reports, South Africa is currently home to a real-life John Wick, as a mysterious vigilante has managed to earn that nickname thanks to a series of recent slayings targeting members of a criminal organization.
According to IOL, residents in the town of Mamelodi believe a lone wolf has been picking off gang members affiliated with the Boko Haram gang (which is unaffiliated with the infamous terrorist group of the same name) that have been terrorizing members of the community through extortion, robberies, and a litany of other crimes. In recent weeks, multiple high-profile Boko Haram members have been gunned down in a hail of bullets—a series of killings that have caused a number of people to begin to refer to the vigilante as “John Wick.”
'John Wick' vigilante South Africa pic.twitter.com/9g8aknKDzu
— CHRIS (@c_chris10) November 1, 2021
For what it’s worth, police say they believe the murders have been committed by multiple members of a rival gang as opposed to a single citizen simply committed to doling out justice, and local authorities have launched a task force in the hopes of getting to the bottom of things.