Cop chase preceded Menlyn shooting
Police are investigating possession of suspected stolen vehicle after three men were arrested during a shooting at Menlyn Park shopping centre on Monday.
More details have emerged about a hair-raising shootout outside Menlyn Park shopping centre on Monday.
Brooklyn police spokesperson Captain Collette Weilbach said this happened as police were catching up with a car they had been chasing from Woodlands Boulevard, east of Pretoria.
“At 12:15, Garsfontein police spotted a suspicious silver Audi A4 with three occupants… The police followed the vehicle and indicated to them to pull over at Atterbury Road in Menlyn,” said Weilbach.
“One of the occupants pointed a firearm at the police and the police responded by firing a shot at the suspects’ vehicle.”
One of the fleeing men was hit in the leg, and they raced into an underground parking lot of the Menlyn Park shopping centre.
“The suspects stopped …. and fled further on foot,” said Weilbach said.
Police and bystanders arrested them as they reached the open-air parking area.
Moot Crime Prevention chairperson Theo Breedt, who works at the shopping centre, said: “I heard a lady screaming and a few seconds later I saw a guy run past me with his hand in a bag and I immediately noticed he had a gun. I kept my distance and one of my managers of New World store chased after the guy.”
He said his manager, Ian Keogh, arrested the man after he dropped the bag with the gun off a bridge.
“Security came to the scene. Apparently two other suspects were also caught by police,” he said.
Weilbach said the wounded man was being treated in hospital under police guard.
Two unlicensed firearms were recovered from the scene. Weilbach said police discovered that the Audi was stolen in Centurion earlier this month.
“The Brooklyn police will be investigating a case of possession of suspected stolen vehicle and unlicensed firearm.”
Menlyn Park shopping centre spokesperson Andrea de Wit said the mall was operating as usual and trading was not disrupted.
“There were no injuries shoppers or staff.”
Also read:
VIDEO: Man hit in shooting drama at Menlyn Park Shopping Centre
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