Suspected robber shot in botched robbery
A suspected robber was shot and wounded during a botched robbery in Jerusalem, on Friday, September 5.
Gunshots rang out along Main Reef Road in Jerusalem informal settlement as the suspect, part of a gang, tried to evade EMPD police officers.
The suspicious three alleged robbers were waiting outside Balmoral Bottle Store when EMPD officers approached them, according to Col Sipho Mathebula, station commander of Reiger Park SAPS.
“EMPD officers noticed the suspicious vehicle belonging to the trio parked next to the bottle store, along Main Reef Road, and decided to investigate.
“Upon approaching the vehicle, one of the three occupants jumped out and tried to flee.”
The officers gave chase, with the fleeing suspect opening fire on them.
In retaliation, police officers also opened fire on the suspect and one bullet hit him in the buttocks, before he was cornered and placed under arrest.
The alleged thief’s firearm was also confiscated.
Back in the vehicle, officers found his two accomplices also armed with an unlicensed revolver and they were both wrestled to the ground and placed under arrest.
The wounded suspect was rushed to Tembisa Hospital where he is recovering under police guard.
The others were taken into custody and will appear in court soon.
Mathebula suspects the men intended to rob the nearby businesses, a bottle store or the nearby scrapyard.
“While the formalities were being conducted by the police, it was discovered that the same three suspects were involved in a house robbery in Brentwood Park in Benoni where two firearms were stolen,” says Supt Wilfred Kgasago of the EMPD.
None of the officers was injured.
– @FanieBoksburg
