This comes after the KwaThema detectives conducted a successful Basadi Operation which saw 11 arrests being made last Friday.
“On March 17, at 10.30pm the EMPD were patrolling around KwaThema when they received information from an informant on suspicion of drug selling or usage at a home in Chilwane Street in Barcelona.
“When they arrived at the scene, the officers knocked on the door and the response they got was of alleged shooting through the door from the inside in their direction.
“One of the officers sustained a gunshot wound to the thigh, so the officers then fired back,” says KwaThema police spokesperson W/O David Mphali.
He adds that there were two suspects inside the house.
The one without a firearm (22 years old) went out the door with his hands raised. However, the suspect (27 years old) with the gun shot again in the direction of his friend, hitting him from behind in his left leg.
“As other officers attended to their shot colleague and the shot suspect, the suspect with the gun continued to shoot, paving his way out, and fled the scene,” says Mphali.
Ambulances were called and the officer was taken to Life Parkland Hospital while the injured suspect was taken to Pholosong Hospital and then transferred to the Tembisa Hospital for medical treatment.
The shot suspect was charged for smoking drugs found in the home and attempted murder, but the case was struck off the roll due to lack of evidence, says Mphali.
Weeks later, while still investigating that incident, on April 8 during a Basadi Operation by KwaThema police which involved the tracing of wanted suspects, detectives went to a home in September Street where they found two males sleeping.
One of them was found with a firearm under his pillow.
He was then arrested, and upon investigating further, police found that this suspect was wanted in connection with the first incident, so he was charged for possession of an unlicensed firearm, attempted murder and possession of drugs.
“Police also discovered that this gun belonged to a policeman working in Springs, who had previously reported a house break-in incident at his home and had lost his firearm during that time,” says Mphali.
The suspect appeared at the Springs Regional Court on Monday and the case was postponed to May 8.
He remains in police custody at the Modderbee Prison.
