A policeman was shot dead when he sought to come to the rescue of a foreign shop owner in New Eersterust near Soshanguve on Wednesday.
The shop owner later died from injuries suffered when six robbers assaulted him. Police spokesperson Colonel Noxolo Kweza said the 27-year-old Constable formed part of a visible police team in Sector 2 which responded to a business robbery at a shop owned by an Ethiopian. A shoot-out ensued when police tried to free the shop owner who was held at gunpoint.
The Constable from Temba police station near Hammanskraal could not be named immediately as his next of kin were still to be informed. Kweza said: “The robbers held an Ethiopian shop owner at gunpoint. They demanded money from the shop owner, who told them that he didn’t have any cash. They assaulted him and he lost his life later in the hospital.”
“The robbers got away with some items from the shop, including cigarettes and airtime vouchers.Kweza told Record that the visible policing team were conducting a routine operation in the area during the early hours of the morning when they were alerted about thea robbery. She denied that crime – especially against the foreign owned shopkeepers – was rife in the area.”
“We always respond to any criminal incidents across New Eesterust. We have 2 vehicles per sector and I can tell you that our members are always vigilant. We are not aware of the reports of foreign shop owners who are said to be robbed always but we make it our utmost duty that we urgently attend to all reported criminal activities around all the sectors.” Kweza said police had opened a business robbery and two murder dockets. The search for the six robbers continued.
