Durban - Parents are warned to be vigilant when dropping off or picking up their children at school.
The call comes in the wake of a hijacking at a pre-primary school in Lombard Street, Pinetown, on Thursday, where a woman was faced with a man brandishing first, a knife, and later a gun, when she arrived to fetch her children at 5pm.
Blue Security operations manager, Brian Jackson, said the woman was lucky to survive the brazen attack unharmed.
He said the priority of the parents was to ensure the children were safe in such situations and to rather hand over the car.
The school declined to comment on the matter.
In 2014, a mother was hijacked outside a Kloof school as she dropped off her child.
The woman had her car keys taken by armed suspects.
Although two cars arrived on the scene and the occupants came to her rescue, the suspects pointed at them with firearms and they quickly backed off allowing them to get away with the woman’s car.
On the recent incident, Jackson said: “Hijackers operate both on foot, as in this case, after being dropped off nearby by accomplices, and in vehicles, so always make sure there are no suspicious individuals lurking around near the school gate before you pull up.
“But if you do find yourself in a hijacking situation, try to stay calm and avoid eye contact and comply with the hijackers’ request.
“If your children are still in the vehicle, tell the hijackers calmly that you are first going to take them out of the car before handing over the vehicle,” he said.
Police are still looking for the suspect who hijacked the woman last week.
Provincial police spokesman, Major Shooz Magudulela, said the woman initially resisted the man’s attempts to take her blue Toyota Corolla.
“It was when the woman tried to fight off the attacker that he brandished a knife and later, a gun, before she gave in,” said Magudulela.
The kids were ejected from the car and he drove off with the car.”
He said police had yet to make an arrest and investigations were continuing. The car had not been recovered.
Daily News
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