VOSLOORUS – A 34-year-old Vosloorus police constable, Eric Buthelezi, who was on patrol in the area with his colleague, Siyabonga Moloi, was shot and killed at about 07:45 AM, during a shoot-out, after the two unsuspecting officers came across a robbery in progress at one of the shops.
When the robbers noticed the police vehicle approaching, they positioned themselves and opened fire, fatally wounding Buthelezi. They then fled the scene with their stolen loot.
According to Capt Mega Ndobe, the spokesperson for the Katlehong SAPS, just before 8am on Wednesday morning, a gang of men who were armed with several heavy calibre weapons such as AK 47 and R5 rifles, and believed to have been travelling in three separate vehicles, a Quantum Bus, an Audi Sedan and a silver-grey Nissan Livina Sedan, approached the complex.
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Ndobe told Kathorus MAIL that according to further police investigations compiled from surveillance cameras inside the complex, the gang of robbers then entered a popular second-hand store and held up the staff before taking several items, including laptops, computers, cell phones and cash.
Within an hour after the robbery and shoot-out, the Nissan Livina was found by the police, abandoned on the outskirts of Extension Two, in Vosloorus, almost 2km away from the scene of the crime. Inside the vehicle, police fingerprint and forensic experts found bloodstains, indicating that one of the robbers may have been hit when the officers returned fire.
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In an open field across the street from where the vehicle was abandoned, police also found a black bloodstained jacket which they believe may have been worn by the injured robber.
Col Mokoena from the SAPS Crime Intelligence, who deals with police murder cases, is confident that the perpetrators will be arrested.
“It’s just a matter of time and we will be on the tracks of whoever these are guys are and we will bring them to book,” he said. Mokoena and other high-ranking detectives believe one of the robbers may have been seriously wounded.
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“He may even be dead and all we have to do now is to check every private medical practitioner, clinic, hospital and even mortuaries,” said Mokoena.
Meanwhile, further police investigations revealed that the Nissan Livina had been hijacked in Florida, but Ndobe could not confirm when the vehicle was taken.
“All we know is that it was reported hijacked in Florida. We are still awaiting a further detailed report from the detectives in Florida,” Ndobe explained.
