Like a scene from a Hollywood crime spoof movie, an attempt by a would-be hijacker to subdue a terrified taxi driver outside Pretoria led to the accidental death of his two accomplices.
The gunman and his accomplices tried to hijack a minibus taxi driver in Soshanguve’s Block R on Wednesday night.
Posing as customers, they asked to be dropped off at Mabopane railway station. One of them pulled out a gun and threatened the driver as he pulled off.
While two of the suspects forced their way into the front of the taxi, the third sat behind the terrified driver with a gun to his head.
As the gunman’s accomplice started to drive the vehicle, the gunman began pistol-whipping the victim.
While attacking the taxi man, the gunman accidentally discharged his weapon, fatally wounding his accomplice who was driving.
The second accomplice, frightened by what had happened, leapt from the vehicle, falling underneath the taxi which crushed him.
Pedestrians, hearing the shot and spotting the commotion, ran to the seriously injured hijacker.
Police said when they realised what had happened and that the man had tried to hijack the taxi driver, they began assaulting him. The man died.
Police spokesman Warrant Officer Lolo Mangena said: “From the information we gathered from the taxi driver, he was driving through Soshanguve when he was stopped by the three suspects who were posing as passengers.
“As he started driving with the suspects one of them pulled out a gun and held him up. During the suspects’ attempt to drive off with their victim one of the hijackers was shot and fatally wounded, while a second was driven over when he tried to escape from the vehicle after the shooting,” he said.
Mangena said the gunman escaped in the confusion.
“The two injured suspects were taken to Dr George Mukhari Hospital where they later died,” he said. -Pretoria News