Johannesburg - Shoppers and employees at Joburg’s newly opened Mall of the South ran for their lives as gunshots rang through the shopping centre on Monday afternoon.
It is alleged that at around 2pm, four men entered the mall and robbed a jewellery store.
Six employees of a cellphone shop told The Star they had witnessed four men running into the mall with guns in hand.
“A few moments later, I heard about four shots being fired. We all just ran. I didn’t even know where I was running to, I was so scared. I don’t want to relive that moment again,” said one woman.
She and her colleagues stood outside the shop while the police were inspecting the crime scene.
“We can’t continue working today, I have never seen anything like that,” she added.
Other witnesses said the men fled in a Hyundai sedan.
However, mall spokesman Waldo Marcus said only three men robbed the store. He declined to mention its name, adding that security at the mall was tight.
“Mall robberies have been on the increase. We try to make it as difficult as possible for criminals to rob the mall. We have full-time security and armed response,” he said.
Meanwhile, the incident in which a woman tripped and fell from the second floor of a building at the mall is not related to the robbery.
The woman, in her 20s, was in a critical condition in hospital with severe head injuries, ER24 spokesman Russel Meiring said. She was treated and given advanced life support before being transported to hospital
The Star and ANA