Durban - A city gang’s desperate attempt to evade police, which saw at least two vehicles being hijacked and a dramatic shoot-out with officers in Morningside on Tuesday, failed when two were apprehended in a clothing store.
Police spokesman Thulani Zwane said the other two suspects were still at large.
Zwane said about 1.20pm, Greenwood Park police and the crime intelligence unit were following information about a planned bank robbery about to take place at Chris Hani (North Coast) Road. Police saw a white VW Golf parked in the lot outside the bank that matched the description given to them.
“On closer inspection, the police noticed that it had four occupants. When the police approached the vehicle, the driver pulled off, colliding with the police vehicle,” said Zwane.
He said it was alleged that the four men started shooting at the police as they fled the scene in their vehicle.
“Police officers gave chase and called for back-up from the Airwing and K9 units.”
Zwane said the men abandoned the Golf near the licensing office in Smiso Nkwanyana (Goble) Road. They then hijacked a silver grey Mercedes-Benz, which they also abandoned just a few kilometres away and fled on foot.
The police continued to pursue the men on foot and two of the suspects entered a factory shop on Matthews Meyiwa (Stamford Hill) Road. Police followed them into the shop and the suspects opened fire on them. The police retaliated.
Glyn Henman, an employee at the shop, Rip Curl, where the robbers were hiding, said when the men entered they initially thought it was an armed robbery. Henman, who was upstairs when one of the robbers who was downstairs fired shots, said he waited anxiously for the last gunshot, to find out if any of his fellow workers had been wounded.
“I heard shots being fired. We had two customers and other workers in the shop. Everyone dropped to the floor and waited for the exchange of fire to end and a whole lot of police arrived very quickly, there were helicopters and the dog unit,” he said.
When the exchange ended, they found that one of the men was injured in the chest.
“I took one of the detectives to the back, to see if the other guy had not hidden there. While I was in the back, one of the staff members shouted that there was a second suspect hiding in the shop.”
When he was pointed out, police were able to arrest the man.
One of the suspects had gunshot wounds while the other sustained dog-bite wounds. Paramedics treated the men and they were taken to hospital under police guard.
The factory shop had to close for the day and a specialist team was called in to clean up the blood and debris.
“The majority of the staff are petrified. They cannot believe what happened,” said Henman.
He said when he heard the gunshots, he thought they would be shot.
“I was worried how it feels like to get shot. I thought of my kids, it was traumatic. The two customers were not injured but after the shoot-out, they were taken upstairs and paramedics attended to them,” he said.
Zwane said police recovered an AK-47 and two handguns from the suspects. The Mercedes-Benz was also recovered.
“The seized firearms will be sent for ballistic tests to determine if they were used in any other crime.
The arrested suspects will appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court soon facing charges of attempted murder, hijacking and possession of unlicensed firearms as well as ammunition,” said Zwane.
The Mercury