A suspected Pretoria robber was critically injured during a shootout with police following a robbery at a city policeman's house on Wednesday.
The suspect and his accomplice were fleeing from the officer's home in Elardus Park when they were spotted by police on patrol in the suburb.
When ordered by the police to stop the suspects took to their heels and jumped over garden walls and ran through houses to escape.
After summoning air support and back-up, police from the Lyttelton trio task team along with members of the Pretoria police dog unit blocked off roads as they combed the area for the suspects, who had split up - one hiding on a roof, the other in a clump of bushes.
The Lyttelton trio task team combats house robberies, business robberies and hijackings
With a helicopter hovering overhead, homeowner Johan van der Westhuizen, who was working in his garden spotted the man hiding behind a bush.
After waving to police overhead to indicate where the suspect was hiding, Van der Westhuizen ran into his house while his workers locked his garden door.
"I was afraid the men would come into my house. I yelled to my wife to get my gun.
"I was ready to shoot if they came inside," he said.
Van der Westhuizen said when he saw the helicopter over his house and then spotted the man in his garden, he knew there was trouble.
"When police in the helicopter saw the man all hell broke loose.
"They began leaping over my walls and coming through the garden from everywhere.
"It was over so quickly. I don't think those guys knew what hit them," he said.
Van der Westhuizen's wife, Anita, who was traumatised by the incident, said: "I did not know what was happening. There was so much noise from the helicopter. We could hear people screaming and then gunshots.
"It was traumatic," she said.
Confirming the shootout, police spokesperson, Aveline Hardaker, said the men were spotted while officers from the station's trio task team were on patrol.
"When the officers spotted the two men walking along the street with a bag, they became suspicious and ordered them to stop.
"As the police were about to search them, the suspects ran and jumped over several garden walls as they tried to escape," she said.
She said as police cornered one of the men, he pulled out a gun and a shootout ensued. Hardaker said one man was seriously injured when he was shot in the chest.
She said the man's accomplice was also arrested.
"While searching the men police recovered a number of stolen household appliances which had been taken during the burglary of the policeman's house as well as an unlicensed firearm," she said.
Hardaker said the men had been charged with housebreaking and possession of an unlicensed firearm and stolen property.