Employee shot in leg during brazen robbery
An armed robbery occurred outside the Nedbank branch at the Inkwazi Shopping Centre at 11:41 on Wednesday August 4. According to bystanders, two shots were fired and the second hit the person that was being robbed.
The four suspects fled the scene in a white Nissan NP200 bakkie with a false Gauteng-registered numberplate. Two employee of Malelane Pick n Pay were robbed of an undisclosed amount of money.
They were in the process of taking the cash to Nedbank for the purpose of making loose change in coins and notes of lower value. One employee was on his way into the bank when one of the suspects ran up to him and grabbed the money bag. As he ran up to him, a shot was fired on the ground to startle the people in the area.
As the suspect bolted with the money, a second shot was fired at the security guard to scare him off, but the shot ricocheted off the ground into the employee’s leg, causing serious injury. The security guard chased the suspect on foot. The suspect was assisted by another one standing next to the Nissan bakkie, waiting, and apparently coordinating the heist and getaway.
They both jumped onto the back of the bakkie. It had two occupants waiting inside. The driver remained in the vehicle for the duration of the robbery, and sped off as soon as the two on foot were safely on the back.
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On the shopping centre’s security cameras, the four suspects was spotted circling the area for almost two hours prior to the robbery. This indicated that the robbery was well-planned.
No one has been arrested yet in connection with the robbery, and a case of attempted murder has been added. A manhunt for the four suspects has been initiated by the police since Wednesday afternoon.
The owner of Malelane Pick n Pay, Hannes Steenkamp, informed Corridor Gazette that the injured employee recovered quickly. He is still able to walk on his leg. Steenkamp has been organising more stringent strategies with security companies to prevent something like this happening again. “We take our employees’ safety seriously and we are grateful that no one else got hurt at the scene of the robbery,” said Steenkamp.
