The three men were nabbed while apparently on a mission to stage a second robbery in Boksburg, two hours after robbing a Benoni house.
EMPD spokesman Wilfred Kgasago said the EMPD noticed three suspicious male occupants of an LDV parked on Main Reef Road, next to a scrap-metal and a liquor outlet business in Boksburg.
“The EMPD members confronted the men and one of them alighted from the vehicle and in the process pointed a firearm at the metro police,” said Kgasago.
The officer responded by shooting and wounding the suspect in his buttocks.
The other two suspects offered no resistance.
Two firearms were recovered, one of which had its serial numbers filed off.
“While the formalities were being conducted by the police, it emerged that the same three suspects were involved in a house robbery earlier at around 7am, in Brentwood Park in Benoni where two firearms were stolen, said Kgasago.
A .38 Special and a Glock pistol were confiscated.
It is suspected that the trio had intentions of robbing either the scrap-metal business or the liquor store where their vehicle was parked.
The three suspects were charged with possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, as well as attempted murder, at Reiger Park police station.
Two are in their late 20s and the third, a 21-year-old Zimbabwean national, are expected to appear in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday, September 8.
