Metro Police officers were involved in an incident in Nyanga on Tuesday night where a suspect was fatally wounded. Officers were on patrol in New Eisleben Road just after 22:00, when they spotted a vehicle with five occupants that aroused suspicion.
PICTURE: PixabayThe driver sped off, and while in pursuit, some of the occupants started shooting at the officers, who returned fire. The vehicle came to a stop in Nyanga – three suspects fled, while officers apprehended a fourth.
According to the City, a fifth man collapsed on scene – it was then discovered
that he had sustained a bullet wound to the head and was declared deceased on
scene by paramedics.
The Metro Police Department’s Internal Affairs Unit is
working closely with the Safety and Security Investigation Unit (SSIU), the
South African Police Service (SAPS) and Independent Police Investigative
Directorate (IPID) to establish the facts around the shooting incident and the
death of the suspect.
Officers recovered two prohibited firearms and ammunition –
they also confirmed that the vehicle had been reported stolen in Parow in July
and had been involved in an attempted hijacking earlier in the day.
‘’This is but the latest example of the prevalence of
illegal firearms and their link to serious and violent crime. We reiterate our
request that SAPS need to achieve the required crime intelligence to determine
where this endless supply of firearms is coming from,’’ said JP Smith, MMC for
Safety & Security.
‘’We need to shut down the supply as we know from
experience that even arresting the offenders found with the firearms and
confiscating the guns does not result in a conviction of the person with the
illegal firearm,’’ he added.
Done by: Mitchum George
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