Johannesburg - Robbery is thought to be the alleged motive behind a shooting on Johannesburg's M1 highway which resulted in an off-duty Hawks investigator and his passenger being shot and injured on Monday.
Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo said the 51-year-old Hawks investigator and his passenger were caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic when five men walked towards their grey BMW X1 and opened fire on the couple.
Video footage captured by a motorist shows the suspects taking some items from the car, while other motorists begin reversing on the highway in an attempt to avoid the incident.
So that terrible shooting on Jan Smuts yesterday in Joburg? That man lying on the highway outside his vehicle is my senior manager's nephew 😱
— Genevieve Stander (@genevievedoull) October 23, 2018
Masondo said cases of attempted murder and robbery have been opened.
“No arrests have been made yet. They (victims) are still recovering in hospital. At this stage we don’t know what was taken from them during the robbery,” he said.
He added that the suspects used a pistol and a rifle during the incident.
The Star understands that the Hawks investigator was shot in the upper body while the female passenger sustained a gunshot wound to the leg.
Gauteng Hawks spokesperson Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu confirmed that the officer was not on duty at the time of the incident. Mulamu could not give details on whether the officer was working on any high-profile cases at the time of the incident.
Police have appealed to the public to help them with any information that could assist them to arrest the suspects.