Neighbour shoots and kills intruder in Waterval Boven
He accompanied an unarmed security guard to investigate an alarm that had gone off at a vacant house next to his own.
WATERVAL BOVEN – A resident shot and killed a housebreaker in the early hours of Saturday morning.
According to Brig Leonard Hlathi, the resident’s son woke him at about 03:00 on Saturday after the alarm at the property next door went off.
The son said there were lights being switched on and off in the house, which was standing empty since the owner had died.
A security officer from JHD Security Services, who wishes to remain anonymous, responded to the alarm call and noticed nothing out of the ordinary from outside.
“The alarm sounded again after I had checked the house, so I went to fetch the keys from the caretaker,” he told Lowvelder.
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Upon arriving back at the property, the resident met the officer outside and told him that he would accompany him on a search of the house.
The resident was armed and the security officer, who is still in the process of qualifying for his firearm competency certificate, was armed with pepper spray and wearing a bulletproof vest.
They entered the house and started to move into the kitchen and the living room respectively when a man attacked the resident with a screwdriver and knife. The resident shot and killed the man.
It is alleged that the housebreaker was recently released from prison and had multiple charges against him for theft and also a charge of rape.
Both the security officer and resident reported the incident to the Waterval Boven Police Station and an inquest was opened.
Lowvelder tried to contact JHD Security Services’ control room, but the number was unavailable.
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