Pretoria - The lunchtime buzz at Menlyn Park Shopping Centre was interrupted on Monday when an alleged robber was shot and three others arrested following an armed robbery.
Garsfontein police spotted a suspicious-looking silver Audi A4 with three occupants near the Woodlands Boulevard shopping centre and followed it. When they stopped them in Atterbury Road in Menlyn, one of the occupants pointed a firearm at the police and they responded by firing a shot at the suspects’ vehicle.
The suspects fled and police gave chase. The suspects stopped in the parking area of the Menlyn Park shopping mall and fled on foot.
But their freedom was short-lived as police arrested all three suspects with the assistance of a police chopper and back-up vehicles.
The suspected robber was shot outside Checkers supermarket. He received medical treatment on the scene for a gunshot wound to the leg. He was taken to a local hospital where he remains under police guard. No one else was injured during the incident.
Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha said paramedics arrived on the scene and found a large police presence. “Medics treated a man who suffered serious gunshot wounds to his lower body. After he was stabilised at the scene they transported him to hospital for the care he required,” he said.
Two unlicensed firearms were confiscated on the scene.
The police also established that the vehicle that was being used by the suspects was hijacked in Wierdabrug earlier this month.
“The suspects, who are from Alexandra and in their twenties, will appear in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court soon on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of unlicensed firearms,” said police spokeswoman Captain Colette Weilbach.
An employee at Menlyn Shopping Centre said the increasing violence and robbery activities around malls in Pretoria were terrifying to customers and employees.
Pretoria News