Durban - A CCTV camera captured a robbery of a volunteer rescuer while he was walking in the parking lot of a Westville shopping centre on Wednesday.
Chris Williams, 26, had been going to a bank to sort out paperwork when two men, with guns, got out of a car.
One of them grabbed hold of his bag, probably thinking it contained money. It did not.
The incident happened in the parking lot outside Standard Bank in Westville’s Church Road.
The 34-second footage shows Williams walking away from his Ford Bantam bakkie after he had parked it.
A white Toyota reverses and stops in front of his bakkie. Williams does not notice the car.
As he walks past the fourth car in the parking lot, a man jumps out of the back of the car.
The footage captures a man pointing a gun at Williams with his right hand. He is wearing a balaclava. Williams freezes and puts his hands up to his shoulders. The man grabs a black shoulder bag from him with his left hand and walks back to the car.
A second robber, who appears to be well built, jumps from the back of the car. He points his gun at Williams from behind the Toyota while his accomplice gets back into the car.
The Toyota is then driven away, while Williams is seen walking towards his bakkie holding his phone in his hand.
The IT consultant said he was traumatised. He had gone to the bank to sort out paperwork and not to deposit money, he said.
He said he had caught a glimpse of the car and when he turned back he saw a man jump out and cock a gun.
“The noise of the gun being cocked sends you into a frenzy. I could see the bullet going into the chamber when he cocked the gun. That’s how close he was. I handed my backpack to him. Both men did not say a word. The other guy had a silver revolver trained on me,” Williams said.
“I ran to the bank and screamed I had been held up. I had a Coke and tried to stop myself from shaking. It was adrenalin-pumping drama for me. The robbers must have thought I had money in the bag.”
The robbers got away with two laptops, documents and his ID book.
“In my mind I was thinking, ‘don’t ask for my bakkie keys’. I am grateful they did not take my Samsung Galaxy phone which was in my hand,” Williams said.
“Viewing the CCTV footage, we noticed the car had been driving around the parking lot for a while. I am lucky not to have been shot. This is South Africa, you have to deal with it and move on.”
In his spare time and during emergency situations, Williams is a volunteer rescuer for Rescue Tech.
Westville police were investigating a case of armed robbery, police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker, said.
Daily News