Off-duty policeman killed in Vosloorus business robbery
According to a police report, the off-duty police officer dropped off his wife and young daughter at a shopping complex at the main entrance of the store and decided to wait for them in the car while they went inside to shop.
As the month of March comes to an end, it has also signalled a bloody and traumatic period for the SAPS, whose officers became targets of vicious attacks by criminals.
Brigadier Mathapelo Peters, spokesperson for the office of the SAPS’s Gauteng Provincial Police, issued three crime reports within 24 hours, all of them involving attacks on police officers, as well as that of the brutal murder of an off-duty police officer who was shot dead during a business robbery in the township last Thursday, March 21.
ALSO READ:
JMPD officer from Thokoza killed on duty
A few minutes later, the store was attacked by robbers and while the owner activated the security alarm, the little girl managed to run outside to alert her father. The police officer ran into the store to see what was going on. As he entered the door, he was shot in the back by one of the suspects.
The warrant officer, whose identity is being withheld by the police, was declared dead on the scene.
“On behalf of the management and employees of the South African Police Service in the province, let me extend our heartfelt sympathy to the wife and daughter who had to witness the tragic loss of a husband and father. Our condolences to the deceased’s entire family and all those who were close to him. We will do everything in our power to find the suspects and they will face the full might of the law,” said General Mawela.
The Gauteng Provincial SAPS has appealed to anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of the killer or killers to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
ALSO READ:
Flying Squad members arrest alleged murderers on N17 highway in Germiston
Other shoot-outs with the police were reported in the informal settlement of eMalahleni, in Tembisa, where a feared notorious local criminal died after confronting the police on Saturday, March 23. SAPS’s Gauteng headquarters revealed that the man was also on the detectives’ most wanted list. The firearm recovered from the suspect was handed in for ballistic testing to determine if it had been used in committing other crimes.
In an unrelated incident on the same day in Soweto, members of the Soweto Flying Squad were also engaged in a shoot-out with criminals.
One police officer was injured and rushed to a nearby hospital where he is reported to be in a stable condition.
The suspects later sped away and their vehicle was found abandoned in Fine Town south of Johannesburg.
Investigators have since managed to link the vehicle’s ownership and they suspect it may have been used in committing other crimes.
For more #hyperlocal news at your fingertips, visit Springs Advertiser, Boksburg Advertiser, Benoni City Times, African Reporter
