South Africa's Soccer Captain Shot Dead

The captain of South Africa's national soccer team was fatally shot when armed men broke into the house where he was staying last night, police say. Goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa was killed after two gunmen entered a house in Vosloorus township near Johannesburg while an accomplice waited outside, the national police force says. The three assailants then fled on foot. Police say there were seven people in the house during the attack, and the shooting followed an "altercation."

South African soccer club Orlando Pirates said in a statement that it "has learned with sadness about the untimely death of our number one goalkeeper and current captain." The death of the 27-year-old "is a sad loss whichever way you look at it—to Senzo's family, his extended family, Orlando Pirates, and to the nation," the team's chairman said. It's the second death to hit South African sports in three days, as former 800-meter world champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi was killed in a car crash on Friday. At the time, President Jacob Zuma said "the nation has lost a true hero." (More South Africa stories.)