‘Hijacker’ dies in gun battle

Cape Town-10/04/13:a bullet was left behind at The House in Mitchells Plain where the men from Pakistan was killed in cold blood, the guys accused of the murder appeared at the Mitchells Plain Magistrates Court. Picture:Brendan Magaar

Cape Town-10/04/13:a bullet was left behind at The House in Mitchells Plain where the men from Pakistan was killed in cold blood, the guys accused of the murder appeared at the Mitchells Plain Magistrates Court. Picture:Brendan Magaar

Published Feb 11, 2016

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Johannesburg - An abandoned black shoe lay next to a pool of blood where the body of a man had been. His green and red clothes lay in a heap.

Bullet cartridges littered the street as a trail of blood led to the entrance of a building on the corner of Anderson and Nugget streets in central Joburg.

This was the scene on Wednesday after a shootout between five alleged hijackers and security guards left one suspect dead and a guard seriously wounded. Three other suspects are in custody while the fourth was on the run.

Police spokesman Captain Tsekiso Mofokeng said it was alleged that the five men hijacked a courier van carrying cellphones.

“They were aware it was being tracked and drove it into a business on Anderson Street. They closed the garage doors and barricaded themselves in.

“The armed men then forced the employees of the business and the drivers in the courier van to lie on the floor,” he said.

A witness working in a shop close to scene of the shootout was left shocked and traumatised. “We heard the shots, there were a lot of them. We went to hide because we didn’t know what was happening.

“I can’t do this (talk), it’s all too much,” the woman said, tears streaming down her face.

Another witness, who identified himself only as Joseph, said he realised something was wrong when he saw an armed guard banging on the garage door of a tyre business.

“It happened in a second, a man walked out of the garage and just started shooting.

“The security guard ran and returned fire, but he was hurt. I ran away because there were bullets everywhere,” Joseph said.

Next to the garage door of the business was another pool of blood, with spatters on the wall. Two abandoned firearms and a bulletproof vest were being processed by the police’s forensic team.

An onlooker commented on how brazen the hijackers were. “In broad daylight and there are cameras all over, it’s madness!”

Mofokeng said that soon afterwards, security personnel arrived on the scene after tracking the van to the location.

“They tried to force the suspects to come out of the building, but a shootout ensued.

One suspect was killed and a guard wounded,” he said

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The Star

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