A popular South African radio and club DJ has been shot dead in the country’s largest city, Johannesburg, sending shockwaves across the nation grappling with entrenched crime.

Warrick Stock, popularly known as DJ Warras, was gunned down in the city centre on Tuesday afternoon.

Police said the 40-year-old media personality was approached by three suspects, one of whom opened fire on him before fleeing on foot.

The motive of the shooting is unknown and no arrests have been made, police said.

Stock was a well-known radio and TV presenter and a podcaster in South Africa.

Fred Kekana, a local police chief, said Stock was attacked as he was leaving Zambesi House near Carlton Centre.

Stock spent several hours at the building overseeing the installation of security systems at the premises, which had been controversially occupied by unknown people, reports the state-run SABC.

“It is alleged the victim was approached by three unknown suspects after parking his vehicle, and they opened fire at him before fleeing the scene on foot,” the South African Police Service (SAPS) said in a statement.

CCTV footage showed a man with dreadlocks and dressed in what looked like a security uniform opening fire on Stock before fleeing, said Kekana.

The DJ tried to run away after he was shot but fell down across the street, the police chief added.

He said that Stock had an unused firearm on him and nothing was taken during the attack.

Key evidence, like cartridges, were discovered at the scene, according to the police.

Police have appealed to eyewitnesses and members of the public who may have seen the suspects to come forward.

“We know they walked a long distance after the shooting, and officers have been tracking them to determine their whereabouts,” added Kekana.

His sister Nicole Stock told SABC that the family was struggling to process his death.

“I am in shock. I don’t have words. I am shattered,” she said.

“We know he was a voice for many people around the country. He spoke out bravely about issues not many people were willing to speak about. This is a tremendous loss.”

She appealed to the public to refrain from sharing graphic images or videos from the scene, saying this was an incredibly difficult time, especially for Shock’s three sons.

Stock was the presenter of Ngicel’ iVisa, a reality show that premiered on Mzansi Magic, a South African digital satellite entertainment channel.

Beyond his media career, Stock was involved in various business ventures, including private security, providing elite guarding and VIP protection services and securing high-profile events across South Africa, according to local media.

He was also reportedly involved in property management and assisted with building evictions.

His murder has shocked the country and prompted an outpouring of tributes from his fans, the government and political parties.

Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie said he was angry and saddened by Stock’s murder.

“He spoke his truth without fear or favour. He even spoke up against me and my decisions as a minister. He was a pure example of who we should be,” added McKenzie.

Leader of South African’s Build One party Mmusi Maimane said the “brazen murder of DJ Warras in broad daylight is a shock for all South Africans”.

“DJ Warras was more than just a face of a reality series. He was a talented storyteller, a passionate music lover and a warm soul who brought joy and energy to every moment on screen. His dedication to creativity left an indelible mark on our channels,” said Shirley Adonisi, director of local entertainment Channels (Mnet).

In a statement, Mzansi Magic said Stock was known for his charisma, warmth and sharp wit, adding that his legacy “will live on”.

South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised nation, has one of the world’s highest murder rates, fuelled by robberies and gang violence, with some 63 people killed each day between April and September, according to police data.

US President Donald Trump said he was standing by his White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, after Vanity Fair magazine published interviews in which Wiles revealed internal tensions in Trump’s administration and painted an unflattering picture of the roles played by some of the president’s inner circle.

Trump, who regularly describes Wiles as the “most powerful woman in the world”, told the New York Post on Tuesday that he has full confidence in his chief of staff and that she had “done a fantastic job”.

Vanity Fair published two articles based on the interviews, giving insights into what Wiles thinks about other key figures in Trump’s second presidency.

Speaking about Trump, Wiles described the teetotaling president as having “an alcoholic’s personality” and an eye for vengeance against perceived enemies.

“He has an alcoholic’s personality,” Wiles said of Trump, explaining that her upbringing with an alcoholic father prepared her for managing “big personalities”.

Trump does not drink, she noted, but operates with “a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing”.

In his defence of Wiles, Trump said she was right to describe him personally as having an “alcoholic’s personality”, even though he does not drink alcohol.

“I’ve often said that if I did, I’d have a very good chance of being an alcoholic,” Trump said. “I have said that many times about myself, I do. It’s a very possessive personality,” he said.

Speaking on the Trump administration’s failure to quickly deliver its promise to share information related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Wiles suggested that Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, had failed to clearly read the situation with the public.

“First, she gave them binders full of nothingness,” Wiles said of Bondi, noting that Vice President JD Vance had more fully grasped how important the issue was to some people, since he is himself “a conspiracy theorist”.

Of Trump’s inclusion in the Epstein files, Wiles said, “We know he’s in the file”, but claimed the file did not show him doing “anything awful”.

Referring to other members of the Trump administration, Wiles called Russ Vought, the chief of the White House Office of Management and Budget, a “right-wing absolute zealot” and branded tech tycoon Elon Musk an “odd, odd duck”, Vanity Fair said.

On Ukraine, Wiles said that Trump believes Russian President Vladimir Putin “wants the whole country”, despite Washington’s push for a peace deal.

Wiles also affirmed that Trump wants to keep bombing alleged drug boats in the waters off the coast of Venezuela until that country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, “cries uncle”.

In a post on X, Wiles called the Vanity Fair story “a disingenuously framed hit piece on me and the finest President, White House staff, and Cabinet in history”, saying it omitted important context and selectively quoted her to create a negative narrative.

Other members of Trump’s inner circle also defended Wiles after the articles were published.

Vance said in a speech in Pennsylvania that he and Wiles had “joked in private and in public” about him believing conspiracy theories.

“We have our disagreements, we agree on much more than we disagree, but I’ve never seen her be disloyal to the president of the United States,” Vance said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters outside the West Wing that Wiles was “incredible” and accused Vanity Fair of the “bias of omission”, while Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on X that there was “absolutely nobody better!” than Wiles.

US President Donald Trump has said he is ordering a “a total and complete” blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela.

In a post on Truth Social, he said Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s government had been designated a foreign terrorist organisation and accused it of stealing US assets, as well as “Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking”.

“Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” he added.

His remarks came a week after the US seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Venezuela has not yet responded to Trump’s latest remarks.

In his post, Trump said Venezuela was “completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America”.

He added that it will “only get bigger” and “be like nothing they have ever seen before”.

Trump also accused Maduro’s government of using stolen oil to “finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping”.

The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Venezuela of drug smuggling, and since September the US military has killed at least 90 people in strikes on boats it alleged were carrying fentanyl and other illegal drugs to the US.

In recent months, the US has also moved warships into the region.

Venezuela – home to some of the world’s largest proven oil reserves – has, in turn, accused Washington of seeking to steal its resources.

The US, under both Trump and former President Joe Biden, has opposed the Maduro government for years and pressed for him to be removed by instituting stringent sanctions.

Last week, the US imposed fresh sanctions on six more ships it said were carrying Venezuelan oil.

Sanctions were also placed on some of President Maduro’s relatives and on businesses associated with what the US called his illegitimate regime.

A day earlier the US said it had seized a tanker off Venezuela’s coast.

The White House said the seized vessel, called the Skipper, had been involved in “illicit oil shipping” and would be taken to an American port.

Venezuela’s government denounced the seizure, with Maduro saying the US “kidnapped the crew” and “stole” the ship.

The US had built up its military presence in the Caribbean Sea, which borders Venezuela to the north, in the days before the raid.

It involved thousands of troops and USS Gerald Ford – the world’s largest aircraft carrier– being positioned within striking distance of Venezuela.