On Wednesday, March 18 Witbank Police officers were patrolling the N4 highway and focused their patrols on a particular area, well-known as a hotspot for hijackings and robberies, when the sound of a man’s screams alerted them to trouble nearby.
The two police officers rushed towards a bush next to the highway where they had heard the plea for help and as they approached, six men came rushing out of the bush in which they were concealed, and fled.
As the police gave chase to the fleeing suspects, one of the men turned around pointing what looked like a firearm, at the two police.
As a quick reaction to the threat, one of the policemen quickly drew his weapon and fired a shot at the suspect. The suspect was shot in his left leg and immediately after dropped the offending weapon he had pointed at the police.
The police officials caught up to the injured suspect, but the other five managed to escape.
The object the suspect had threatened the policemen with, turned out to be a toy gun.
The man who had alerted police to the scene, was found in the bush where the suspects left him. He told police that he was hiking next to the N4 when the six unknown suspects approached him, grabbed him and pulled him to bushes where they would be concealed from the public eye.
He told police how a suspect in a green shirt, the one who was also wounded by police, threatened him with the same ‘gun’ that was recovered.
The suspects allegedly fled with the hiker’s cell phone, money and identification documents.
The injured robber was taken to hospital and police are still searching for the others.
