UPDATE: Three suspects dead after morning Wilgerood Road gunfight
The driver of the delivery vehicle was shot in the foot and treated on the scene.
Three suspects have been confirmed dead after a shooting along Wilgerood Road on March 2.
The suspects were traced by a multi-unit team acting on information regarding a group of suspects involved in a series of armed robberies across the province.
Police had been monitoring the area since before dawn when they spotted two vehicles identified as belonging to the suspects exiting a mall at high speed shortly before 8:00. Police gave chase with the ensuing gunfight concluding on the main arterial in between Banket Drive and Ruhamah Drive.
Attempting to flee from the police, the suspects turned into oncoming traffic on Wilgerood Road. Police are believed to have disabled the getaway vehicle with the suspects exiting their vehicle, exchanging fire with authorities while attempting to flee on foot.
During this exchange, the driver of a delivery vehicle was shot in the foot but was treated on the scene before being taken to hospital.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects had just robbed a local post office of an undisclosed amount of cash and that the vehicle used by the suspects have false number plates. Three firearms were also recovered on the suspects together with the undisclosed amount of money” confirmed Roodepoort police spokesperson, Captain Juanita-Anne Yorke. “One vehicle believed to be used by other suspects reportedly got away” she added.
Numerous shots were fired with bullet casings stretching for several hundred metres along the temporarily closed road. Onlookers from inside the nearby school relayed how they were conducting their physical education classes on the field when the shots broke out.
Many parents anxiously asked questions at the police barricades with the school confirming to parents via their communications group that nobody was harmed, while also sending a notification that a police helicopter would be landing on the field.
The Provincial Commissioner of the police in Gauteng, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela commended the team for their swift response.
Roodepoort police, the Johannesburg Flying Squad, Provincial police’s Tactical Response Team and various other units were on scene and motorists will be diverted through adjacent streets until the road is reopened.
READ MORE: Wilgerood Road temporarily closed after shooting incident
