Amidst new reports that three men had been arrested in connection with the killing of two police officers on the N3 near Modderfontein on Sunday, an eyewitness claimed the police had not yet taken his statement.
The latest reports of the arrests could not be confirmed. Earlier reports circulated on social media that arrests had been made, were denied by the police.
Accordint to News 24 James Patterson said another police vehicle arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting on Sunday morning.
“I told them what happened and then I left the scene because I was rushing to the airport. No one took a statement from me,” Patterson said.
Colonel Noxolo Kweza said she would not comment on the matter as she did not want to jeopardise the police’s case.
Police were working on several promising leads, she said.
Patterson told News24 that he and his family were driving along the N3 highway when they saw four heavily armed men brazenly spray a police car with bullets.
“We could not move any further,” Patterson said, saying he was shocked by what he was seeing.
“We tried to reverse but we couldn’t,” he said.
“My fear was that they would see us looking at them and turn to shoot at us,” Patterson said.
With his car stationary in the middle lane of the highway, he watched for what he claimed was several minutes of ringing shots.
“Those guys were heavily armed. Those guns looked big. Bigger than AK47s and I know what those look like,” Patterson said.
After the shooting, the men got back into their vehicles – a silver Honda Ballade and a red car – and drove towards the Modderfontein offramp which leads towards Edenvale, Kempton Park and Tembisa.
As soon as the cars drove off, Patterson parked his car and ran towards the officers.
“There was glass everywhere,” he said.
He looked into the police vehicle where he found one police officer on the back seat. “I asked him if he could hear me but he was already gone,” said Patterson.
Another policeman was lying behind the vehicle.
“[He] said I should pick him up and take him to hospital but I said that help was coming,” Patterson said.
He ran to another young policeman who was lying close to a stormwater drain. He was still alive but bleeding heavily.
Patterson said he asked him for his radio as he wanted to use it to call for help. He later died.
One of the attackers was lying close to the police.
During a memorial service held for the two dead police officers on Wednesday, Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant General Lesetja Mothiba said the injured man was shot by the surviving police officer, Colonel Steven Mafanelo.
The man was in hospital under police guard. Police have established he lived in Ivory Park, Tembisa.
Patterson said the police officers stood no chance against their attackers.
“I don’t think they had a chance to defend themselves,” he said.
Constable Maisha Mafokoane and Mthokoziseni Myeza will be buried in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal this weekend.
