Cape Town - One suspect was shot dead, another was injured and a third managed to escape following an attempted robbery at the BP garage near the Cape Town International Airport on Wednesday.
At around lunchtime on Wednesday, three men tried to rob a cigarette delivery vehicle when security guards from Fidelity, who were escorting the delivery vehicle,intervened.
“Fortunately it was being escorted by Fidelity armed escorts and the robbers came off second best. One of the robbers is dead, one was shot in the foot and one got away,” Philip Berridge posted on the Facebook page Traffic, Fines and Updates Western Cape.
The incident at the filling station on the airport exit road resulted in the road being closed. However, Acsa spokeswoman Deborah Francis said by late Wednesday afternoon, the approach road had been opened.
Police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk confirmed that a third suspect was on the run.
“A shootout ensued between the suspects and security officers.
“One of the suspects was fatally wounded. One was injured (wounded) and the other one fled the scene and is still at large,” he said.
Emergency Medical Services spokesman Robert Daniels said one suspect was under police guard at a nearby hospital.
“The surviving man was rushed to Tygerberg Hospital in a stable condition,” he said.
An Uber cab driver who was at the service station the time of the attack says he heard five shots.
The man, who did not want to be identified, says everyone including scared petrol attendants scattered during the shootout.
Pointing to the far side of the garage, the witness says: “We were sitting there in our cars as always waiting for our trips.
“Suddenly we heard [a loud bang], I didn’t see them shooting the guy but we heard the shots.
“Then the one guy came running past us, the petrol attendants were all scared and hid behind the cars.
“Then we saw one [suspect] lying [on the ground] but he was still alive and the other one was shot in his leg.”
He says the third suspect jumped over the wall of a nearby hotel and managed to escape.
Cape Argus and Daily Voice