Policeman shot while chasing armed robbers
High speed chase and shoot out follows shop robbery.
A BRIGHTON Beach SAPS officer was shot during a high speed chase following the armed robbery of a supermarket in Wentworth on Thursday, 7 May.
Five men armed with handguns and assault rifles entered the supermarket at the corner of Silvertree and Amoora Roads at about 7.30pm, demanding money. After assaulting five employees of the shop, they fled with an undisclosed amount of cash and a computer.
Two teams from the Brighton Beach cluster anti-hijacking task team who were patrolling in the area, responded to radio communications that the men had fled in a silver C-Class Mercedes Benz along Duranta Road.
Constables Rasool and Nene waited at Himalayas Drive for the car to pass them, while keeping in contact with Sergeant Jooste and Cst Pule, who were headed toward them. When the Mercedes passed, Cst Rasool and Nene gave chase through Lamontville.
While speaking to Sgt Jooste over the radio, Cst Rasool said the men had opened fire on them. Sgt Jooste heard gunshots and then the radio went silent. A few minutes later Cst Nene radioed back, saying Cst Rasool had been shot.
He said they had returned fire at the fleeing men when Cst Rasool was shot in the right hand, dropped his gun, forcing him to take cover in the police car. Under heavy fire from the armed men, Cst Nene kept shooting at the gunmen until they fled in the Mercedes.
Sgt Jooste and Cst Rasool called for medical assistance for Cst Rasool, who suffered major nerve and bone damage to his hand and needed surgery.
The Mercedes was found abandoned in Lamontville later on Thursday night and police have confirmed that it had been stolen during a hijacking in Chatsworth the day before. Blood and fingerprints found in the abandoned car has been sent for DNA testing and ballistic testing is being done on shell casings found at the scene.
