Stray bullet hits girl’s room during Ekurhuleni R21 shoot-out
A family has described the horror of finding a bullet that hit a wall in their daughter’s room.
A Rhodesfield, Ekurhuleni, family was left reeling after realising that a stray bullet from a shoot-out between suspects and security officers hit a wall in their daughter’s room on June 26.
The family was awoken by gunfire at 01:40 after a truck crashed on the R21 opposite their home.
Cases of liquor stolen during an armed robbery at a warehouse in Kempton Park just moments before the crash filled the truck.
According to Gauteng SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo, police in Gauteng, working with private security officers, intercepted a gang of 44 men during the robbery.
“Officers were following up on information that the warehouse would be robbed.
“When they arrived at the scene, the suspects were loading liquor to the value of over R15m into four trucks,” he says.
Masondo adds that they had already loaded two trucks with liquor and driven off in them.
“The police gave chase, and one of the trucks crashed on the R21 in Kempton Park,” says Masondo.
A family member who was at the house at the time of the incident agreed to speak to the Kempton Express on condition of anonymity.
“We were sleeping when the incident happened. We heard a screech, a bang and three gunshots. We thought it was just a major accident and alerted the Kempton Park SAPS… [Then] we realised the severity of the situation,” she says.
“We went outside to see what had happened. We saw the truck and noticed the authorities were on the scene, and we just assumed it was a car accident.”
The next morning, she says the family found a spent bullet at the side of the house and noticed that the daughter’s room had a broken window.
According to the family member, on further inspection, they found that the bullet had hit one of the walls inside the daughter’s room.
“The incident has left my family feeling unsafe and shocked. I don’t have words to describe our emotions. We never thought something like this could happen in our area.”
She says the young girl was asleep in her room when the incident occurred.
“No words can explain how we feel. The young girl was left hysterical and scared.”
She says it has been a struggle for the daughter to process what happened.
The police found the second truck taken during the robbery in Norkem Park and arrested one suspect.
They also seized two VW Polos used in the commission of a crime.
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