Johannesburg - Bedford Centre was in chaos on Thursday after a gang opened fire on cash-in-transit guards in the banking mall, injuring shoppers and security guards.
Police and mall security closed the centre for about an hour, trying to find the rest of the gang.
Police said nobody was killed, but seven people were injured: three shoppers, two SBV Services guards and two robbers.
The two injured robbers were arrested at the scene but the rest of the gang fled.
The gang targeted a cash-in-transit delivery to a bank in the lower mall by SBV Services sometime after 11am.
Reports were confused, but it seemed that once the SBV guards went down the escalators and reached the lower level with the money on a trolley, the gang opened fire.
Witnesses reported a hail of gunfire, with two separate sets of shooting.
Workers laying cables for MWeb said the SBV team were attacked once they got off the escalators.
“There was a rain of bullets,” said a worker, who fled into a nearby shop, and said his ears hurt from the gunfire.
Moses Modida, a driver, was heading for the post office on the lower level when he saw a man with a firearm.
Minutes later, he heard shooting and saw a robber trying to flee.
“I saw one running away with blood coming from his leg. He still had a big gun, and as he ran away, he fell on to some tables. Then I saw another one appear with a gun too and I thought they were going to shoot again, so I ducked down behind the counter,” said Modida.
“The manager ran and locked the post office door. By that time, they had shot some girl in the back. She was trying to run away, near the escalators.”
When the shooting was over, at least four people were on the ground injured – three men and the young woman – and the rest of the gang had fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Upstairs at the top of the escalators, waitresses at the Mugg & Bean restaurant said the young woman who was shot was from a family who were regular customers and who had just had a meal at the restaurant. A waitress said the mother and daughter had gone downstairs and separated.
“The mother was in the bathroom and called her daughter, who was crying and said she was shot,” said one waitress.
At the Wimpy restaurant on the lower level, shaken staff described gunfire and screaming.
On the level above, people looked down and saw the chaos.
“I saw people lying and thought they were dead. Three or four people were shot,” said Banele Tshabalala, who works in an office in the centre.
“Then I turned and I saw money in a bag on a trolley… We all started running away and I saw a white lady who pulled the money away towards her shop, and that was when shooting started again.
“When they started shooting the second time, that’s when we ran away, because we thought the action was over and that they had left.”
SBV Services confirmed that two of its guards were injured.
Initial reports of a guard being taken hostage were denied.
In the chaos following the shooting, police and security personnel could not establish how many robbers were involved or whether any were still hiding in the centre, so they closed the centre to search it.
“There are about 10. We are not sure,” Samson Mashele of Tshau Protection Services said, while police searched all the vehicles leaving the centre.
One injured robber got as far as the basement parking area where he was caught trying to steal a car. Cartridges littered the ground and there were bullet holes in cars.
The fleeing gang grabbed a radio and a boom remote control from the centre security.
They fled in a white Toyota Quantum minibus, apparently ordering the woman at the boom at gunpoint to open it.
Police officers were seen using ladders to check possible hiding places.
SAPS spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Katlego Mogale said two men were arrested and police seized an AK-47 and an unlicensed 9mm pistol.
She said the injured were in a stable condition.
Netcare 911 and ER24 both confirmed treating patients on the scene and transporting five people to hospital.
“We have zero tolerance for any criminal activity that threatens the safety of our employees and the public,” said Grant Dunnington, group chief executive of SBV Services.
“We are horrified by this attack and we’ll do everything we can to ensure that those involved in committing this crime are brought to justice.
“I commend our employees for their bravery and hope they recover quickly. As a responsible employer, a priority is to take care of our employees and provide support after a traumatic event.”
Anyone with information on the robbery can call the SBV Early Warning Robbery Hotline at 083 408 7029 or Crime Line on 10111.
The Star