According to the Carletonville police, the 36-year-old owner of Akeela Discount Radio and Cell- phone in Osmium Street was in his shop when the incident took place. At approximately 10:30, an unknown masked man walked into the shop. Three more suspects soon followed. One of the men had a firearm and demanded money. All the intruders spoke Zulu. The owner tried to stay out of the way of the robbers by sitting down behind the counter. The thugs then grabbed his female employee and forced her into the backroom. They soon came back and did the same to the owner. They grabbed the owner’s Huawei P40 pro cell phone and started looting the front of the store. The thugs took about 50 cell phones, valued at R70,000 and also took R11,000 that was in the shop. The robbers then walked out of the shop, where they were joined by their two accomplices. They then got into their white VW Polo 7 getaway car. As they drove out of their parking place, they turned right in front of a marked police bakkie that happened to be patrolling the area at that time. The robbers immediately started shooting at the police and the occupants of the bakkie returned fire. The police pursued the robbers towards the bridge in Oberholzer. Bystanders and employees of businesses in the area of the bridge got the fright of their lives when they realised that a shoot-out was taking place right there. At least one of the bullets fired during the chase landed in the yard of a local business, narrowly missing an employee. The police members alerted their colleagues to look out for the robbers and chased after them to the N14. Unfortunately, the police bakkie was no match for the robbers’ Polo and they soon lost track of the thugs on the open road. Although bullets hit the police bakkie during the chase, the occupants were luckily not injured. At the time of the newspaper going to print, the robbers had still not been apprehended. The police are investigating an armed robbery case.
