Cape Town - A pedestrian died when he was hit by a car driven by hijackers attempting to escape from South African Police Service (SAPS) flying squad officers in Cape Town in the early hours of Sunday morning, Western Cape police said.
Nevertheless, the efforts of SAPS flying squad members to bring criminals to book were rewarded with the arrest of three hijackers in two separate incidents in the area, Lt-Col Andrè Traut said.
Officers on patrol in the early hours of Sunday morning reacted at about 1.30am to a police radio broadcast of a red BMW that was hijacked in Mfuleni, where the complainant was shot and wounded, he said.
The car was spotted and following a high speed pursuit, during which a pedestrian was knocked down and killed by the fleeing hijackers, the car came to a stop in Sheffield Road in Browns Farm. One of the suspects was arrested, but the others managed to flee on foot. During a search of the area, a 9mm pistol was later discovered, Traut said.
In an unrelated incident, also early on Sunday morning, a white Ford Ikon hijacked in Nyanga was spotted and pursued by flying squad members. One of the suspects pointed a firearm at the officers, "which prompted them to take action by wounding the suspect".
The wounded suspect and his accomplice were arrested when the car came to a stop in Khayelitsha. Two imitation firearms were confiscated. Once charged, the three suspects were due to appear in court in Athlone and Khayelitsha respectively, Traut said.