Cape Town – A man was shot dead in a parking lot near a popular Athlone club in the early hours of Monday, just three hours after two others were wounded inside an upmarket Camps Bay club.

While the Athlone shooting is not suspected to be linked to an underworld power struggle, the shooting that happened in Camps Bay is.

Police spokesperson Captain FC Van Wyk said the shooting in Athlone happened around 04:00 on Monday near the popular nightclub in Rylands.

He said a man, 33, was shot dead.

“A murder case was opened for investigation.”

Van Wyk said no arrests had been made yet.

Social media posts implied the Athlone shooting had happened in the nightclub.

Three hours earlier two men were wounded in a shooting in the Camps Bay club.

This was suspected to be linked to a fight for control over the nightclub security industry after a new group took over the scene from an older group.

Three suspects were arrested for the shooting.

One of those wounded, according to sources, was the owner of a tyre fitment centre which was petrol bombed in Observatory, Cape Town, in May 2016.

A tussle over the lucrative nightclub security scene started playing out in Cape Town about three weeks ago.