Police bite the bullet in gun battle
Their father was certain of their safety, until he heard the gunshots
Mr James Ndlovu* decided to surprise his girlfriend with a visit.
On March 10, he rolled up to his girlfriend’s apartment and spotted something a little unusual; his girlfriend and a strange man were chatting in the driveway.
Mr Ndlovu exited his vehicle and approached the pair. He greeted his girlfriend, but wasn’t met kindly by his girlfriend’s male companion who abruptly told Mr Ndlovu to go away because he was “bothering” them.
When Mr Ndlovu didn’t immediately leave, the male companion allegedly hastily drew a gun and threatened to shoot him.
Mr Ndlovu kept his wits about him, got in his car and drove away. He made a case with Witbank SAPS.
The suspect has been arrested.
“I wasn’t threatening the guy. He just pulled out a gun all casual like,” explained Mr Ndlovu, “at first I didn’t even see he had pulled out a gun, it was only when he looked down at it and shoved it towards my stomach that I realised ‘Woah! This guy is serious.”
Just the previous day, on March 9, a group of children were playing outside in a quiet street in Jackaroo Park.
Their father was certain of their safety, until he heard the gunshots.
The children’s father ran outside, terrified that one of the kids had been hurt, only to find a group of men standing across the street – allegedly firing shots into the air ‘for fun.’
A case of ‘discharging a firearm in a municipal area’ was opened against the men, who were placed under arrest at the time.
“What bothers me most is that these men didn’t care that children were playing outside, or that they were scaring them or could even possibly hurt them. All these men care about is their own fun and games, but then they want to cry tragedy when someone gets hurt. We need to get all of these illegal gun owners off of our streets,” the children’s father said, “my girls are still scared to go outside, and now they cry every time they see someone parking across the road because they think history is about to repeat itself. It’s not fair that we have to suffer for someone else’s amusement. How do I explain to my girls that it won’t happen again, when it happened so easily the first time?”
* Names changed to protect the identity of victims
