Cape Town - Standing on the spot where he squared off with an armed robber the day before, security guard Anthony Joseph said he still felt he had been in a cop movie.
Joseph, who works for local security company Avenue Response Team, not only helped track down an armed man carrying more than R100 000 in stolen cash, but also apprehended him.
It was a brazen robbery on Monday at about 10am, when a man held up the Cape Union Mart store at the V&A Waterfront.
Police spokesman FC van Wyk said two of the shop’s sales assistants, on their way out to deposit money at a bank, were approached by an unidentified man.
He took out a gun and pointed it at them, demanding the money they were carrying.
After the sales assistants handed over the cash, the robber fled as security guards chased him.
The mall’s spokeswoman Carla White said the robber had opened fire on his pursuers, but nobody was hit.
The man fled around the main shopping mall and ran towards Granger Bay.
Joseph, 50, who had been radioed in to help, said: “I saw him going there and I immediately knew where we could find him.”
But while Joseph tried to lead police to the area’s raised breakwater, they took another route.
“They were all on the other side, there by the boats,” he said, motioning towards Granger Bay’s small harbour.
Alone on the breakwater, the Kraaifontein dad cautiously moved forward.
“I couldn’t see him, so I still wasn’t sure he was there.”
But after Joseph took up a position behind a cluster of rocks, he noticed the man standing at the end of the breakwater, still clutching his gun. He was clearly trapped, with the police on one side and water on the other.
“I pulled out my gun and pointed it at him… My heart was pounding and I was shaking, but I knew I had to stay calm and do the right thing.
“There was something far more valuable than money at stake here – my life, or his life. I was thinking he could shoot me at any moment and I might be forced to shoot him.”
Joseph shouted at the man: “Drop the gun, or I shoot.”
The robber hesitated and then let go of his weapon.
“Move forward,” commanded the security guard.
Moments later, Joseph was standing over him, his foot planted on the robber’s back as he retrieved the stolen money. He said a policeman came and handcuffed the robber.
“It all feels unreal, like it belongs in a movie… I don’t want to do that again too soon.”
Cape Argus