Three people were killed, including two Ethiopians, a shop owner and a shop manager, and the main suspect involved in the robbery at the Hosana Tuck Shop.
The main suspect is allegedly a police officer stationed at the Kliprivier Police Station.
An eyewitness, who did not want to be named, said one armed suspect, alleged to be the police officer, entered the shop around 6.30pm and found the shop manager and a female employee inside.
“He pointed a firearm at the shop manager and demanded money from him. The shop owner arrived not knowing what was happening and found the robbery taking place. He locked the suspect inside, not knowing the car parked nearby was a getaway car with other suspects inside.
“One of the suspects from the car approached him, pulled out a gun and shot him in the head. The shop owner tried to drive away after being shot but, unfortunately, lost control of the car and hit an electricity pole and died on the scene about 30m from where the shooting occurred,” said the eyewitness.
He said the police from the Thokoza Police Station arrived while the suspect was still locked inside.
“The police opened the door and the suspect came out of the shop.
“At the time there were so many angry Ethiopian citizens on the scene who wanted the police to take action against the suspect. Instead, the police fought with the Ethiopians,” the eyewitness alleged.
He further claimed: “There was a war of words between the police and the Ethiopians. The angry shop manager tried to grab a police officer’s gun to shoot the suspect, but one of the policemen pulled the trigger and shot the shop manager in the upper body.”
The police said the shop manager died on the way to hospital.
One of the Ethiopian citizens, Emmanuel Teferra*, who owns the shop next to the one that was robbed, said as soon as the shooting started he locked himself inside his shop.
“I was afraid because I did not know what was happening outside. It did cross my mind that one of us was being robbed because a few weeks earlier one of my friends’ shop was robbed. I remained inside in fear of my life.
“A female neighbour (South African) knocked on the door of my shop and told me to come with her to her house because she wanted to protect me.
“After the situation calmed down, I went to the scene and found one of my friends shot dead and another one lying in a pool of blood, unconscious,” said Teferra.
Colonel Reckson Shiburi, the station commander at the Thokoza Police Station, confirmed the suspect was a police officer but dismissed the allegations that the Thokoza police tried to cover for him.
“What the police tried to do was to protect the suspect from the angry Ethiopian citizens who were after the suspect’s life. After they heard the suspect was a policeman they became furious and wanted his head. As the police, there is no way we would have allowed that to happen to the suspect. It was his democratic right to be protected by the police. After protecting him, the Ethiopian citizens thought that we were covering for him because he is one of us,” said Shiburi.
It is still not clear how the suspect died. Shiburi claimed that when the police arrived on the scene, he already had a gunshot wound and head injuries. The eyewitness denied the suspect was shot by the Ethiopians.
It was not safe for anyone passing by the crime scene. Most of the people locked themselves inside their houses and looked through the windows. One woman who stays next to the shop fell and broke her arm as she was trying to run away and hide with her children.
According to the communications officer for the Katlehong SAPS, Captain Mega Ndobe, the police do not condone the involvement of police in criminal activities.
“If you are a real policeman there is no way you can be involved in crime, except if you were a criminal before you were trained as police.
“Everywhere you go and in every workplace, there will always be rotten tomatoes. Police who are involved in criminal activities are the rotten tomatoes in the police force. They need to be gotten rid of and stripped of their uniform and badges,” said Ndobe.
*Not his real name.
