KEMPTON Park ward councillor Tracey Lourenco and her family drove straight into a shoot-out between armed robbers and security guards at Greenstone Mall on Sunday morning.
According to Edenvale SAPS, five gunmen robbed the Telkom shop inside the mall just before 10am.
Lourenco was with her daughter and seven-year-old grandson when the incident happened.
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“I was on my way to a baby shower and had stopped at the mall to grab a few things. As we turned off Moddderfontein Road and approached the circle between the mall and Stoneridge Shopping Centre, I could tell something was wrong,” Lourenco explained.
“I saw one of the robbers running out of the parking area with a gun. He was shooting at a security guard, who returned fire. More security personnel came running out to help,” described Lourenco.
When she realised what was going on, she signalled cars behind her to stop and turn back, as there was a shoot-out going on.
“It was like a scene from a movie. We were literally caught up in the middle of it.”
A few minutes later, Lourenco quickly drove into the mall’s parking area to get away from the catastrophe.
“My grandson was hysterical the whole time because we were involved in an armed robbery about three years ago and were hijacked at our home just over a year ago. The incident traumatised him all over again and me as well.”
Lourenco has asked her grandson’s school to arrange trauma counselling for him and would go for therapy herself.
“My daughter, on the other hand, seems to be handling the situation a lot better than we are. She just said, ‘Mom, you saved our lives.’ If I hadn’t quickly spotted what was going on, we would’ve been shot at.”
Luckily, no one was injured during the shooting.
After police officers and security guards gave chase, one suspect was arrested and an unlicensed firearm and live rounds of ammunition were recovered. The other robbers fled in a white VW Polo.
