A group of four friends were at the park at 11am, where they parked a grey VW Polo and a Toyota Camry, when two armed men approached them.
The friends were told to lie down on the grass.
“Three of the friends responded to the demand, but the fourth one was stubborn and didn’t,” says Capt Johannes Ramphora, Springs police spokesman.
One of the suspects, armed with a firearm, then fired a shot at the victim, hitting him in the stomach.
One suspect jumped into the Polo and the other one into the Camry; however, the Camry wouldn’t start.
Ramphora says the friends claim the suspect in the Polo drove off, while his friend fled the scene on foot.
EMPD officers Louis Els and Louwtjie du Toit, arrived on the scene and found the man bleeding profusely.
They called for an ambulance and the police, who arrived within minutes of the call.
Paramedics treated the injured man on the scene and took him to a nearby hospital for further treatment.
“We found a .45b calibre cartridge on the scene,” says Ramphora.
The Polo was found abandoned in Grant Street on the same day and was searched for fingerprints.
SAPS took the vehicle to the Van Ryn Deep Vehicle Safeguarding Unit in Benoni.
