Pretoria - Two suspects are due to appear before the Mamelodi Magistrate’s Court today after being arrested by Tshwane Metro Police Department officers following a high-speed chase in a stolen vehicle and a shoot-out at Nellmapius, near Solomon Mahlangu Drive in Mamelodi, on Tuesday night.
A third suspect is on the run.
Speaking to the Pretoria News yesterday, department spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba said the incident happened around 10pm on Tuesday, and thus the suspects had not been processed to appear in court by yesterday.
He added in a statement that the police department’s region six in Mamelodi was conducting its crime-prevention duties on Tuesday night when a Honda vehicle with three men inside was spotted.
“The vehicle fled after our members tried to stop it. They then gave chase and called for more back-up.
“When they got to the vehicle in Nellmapius, near Solomon Mahlangu Drive, a suspect took out a firearm, but the officers reacted swiftly and returned fire. The suspect was injured.
“Two suspects were apprehended and one ran away. Their vehicle was searched and the officers found housebreaking equipment,” Mahamba said.
He said law enforcement officers discovered that the vehicle was stolen.
“The two suspects were then arrested for possession of a stolen vehicle, housebreaking equipment and an unlicensed firearm. The injured suspect was taken to hospital under police custody.”
This is the second high-speed chase and exchange of gunfire on Pretoria roads in recent weeks that has involved a stolen car.
Last month the police shot dead two gun-wielding suspects in an attempted cash-in-transit heist over the Easter weekend.
The Pretoria News reported that the police intercepted a group of armed suspects along John Vorster Drive in Centurion.
During the interception, two robbers were fatally wounded during a shoot-out with the police, and three AK47 automatic rifles were recovered.
The incident came after the police were tipped off about a planned cash-in-transit heist around Centurion and spotted the suspects at the Grey Owl Shopping Complex driving a stolen black BMW and waiting for a G4S cash van.
The suspects sped off when they realised the police were on their trail, which resulted in a chase on Olievenhoutbosch Road until John Vorster Drive.
Two were shot dead and police are still on the hunt for two more suspects who fled the scene.
Pretoria News