Johannesburg -
A 21-month-old boy who was taken during a hijacking in Booysens has been found in Braamfontein, Gauteng police said on Saturday.
This was after a Volkswagen Golf was hijacked on Friday afternoon and the gunmen drove off with the toddler inside, Lieutenant Kay Makhubela said.
Makhubela said earlier on Friday a policeman had been patrolling Booysens when he saw two people running and gave chase.
The pair overpowered the officer and shot him with his police-issue firearm, wounding him in the arm and stomach.
Makhubela said they drove off in the police van but soon afterwards abandoned it while still in Booysens.
They then hijacked the Golf with the toddler inside.
“The Golf was found around two hours later around 7pm in Braamfontein... with the child inside,” he said.
The child was reunited with his family and taken for a medical check up.
“We are still searching for the two suspects and a case of armed robbery, kidnapping and attempted murder has been opened,” Makhubela said.
The wounded policeman was in hospital in a stable condition.
In a similar incident in October last year, an eight-month-old boy was found safe after his mother's silver Volkswagen Polo was hijacked in Phiri, Soweto.
The child had been in the back seat of the car when gunmen hijacked the car as the woman was opening the gate to her property, Captain Mpande Khoza said at the time.
Soon after, residents in a nearby street heard a child crying. When they went to investigate, they found the child still fastened into its baby seat on the side of the road. - Sapa