Cape Town - The Silvertown community at the edge of Bridgetown, Athlone, are “upset” after a robbery at the local pet shop.
In the early evening yesterday, three men held up the business in Somerset Road at gunpoint, minutes before closing.
Sammy Meyer, 52, who manages The Corner Feed Store, said: “I opened the door and there were three guys, one had R300 in his hand … I called the guy who is working here, and I said, ‘Gary bring the food.’ And as he was going to fetch the food, the one guy went to the back, and the guy hit me with the gun.
“He came around (the till) and said ‘Where is the money?’ He hit me with a gun. He said, ‘Open the till, where is the money?’ I said ‘what money?’ Then he opened the till and took R500,” Meyer said.
Meyer said the men took the store’s key, his car licence and cellphone: “They have all the information you know,” Meyer said.
Police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi confirmed this. “Reports suggested that the complainant was at a premises in Blossom Street in Silvertown on Wednesday.
“At around 17.15 unknown armed suspects arrived and assaulted the complainant. They fled the scene with the valuables taken from the complainant. The suspects are yet to be arrested. Athlone police are investigating a case of business robbery,” he said.
Residents were concerned after word spread that the pet shop had been robbed.
Commenting on the incident outside the store, a 58-year-old resident said: “When somebody has a gun in his hand, for him to get away, he doesn’t mind using it and shooting you, because he knows nothing is going to happen to him.
“If he gets caught, maybe one year, or maybe the case is kicked out. So the criminals of today they don’t care, they don’t care about life. If they can take a life, it makes them a ‘macho man’,” he said.
He said he would like police to pay closer attention to the community because, “if something happens in the community, it affects the whole community”.
The pet shop is opposite Blossom Primary School, and forms part of a shopping centre with a local sushi restaurant, a barber shop, a hardware store, prayer room and Meyer’s business.
An employee at the sushi restaurant, a 30-year-old woman who did not want to be named for fear of her safety, said the three men entered the restaurant first.
Overcome with shock, she said, “I feel upset, I feel scared, I don’t feel safe at my work place anymore because like, when can this ever happen again?
“They came in here first and only the two of us were here in front, and they were playing there with our switches, asking for food to eat, but they were joking about it and then I got up and I swore at them, and I said, ‘just get out’ and the one was still laughing … When they left they went to do their deed (hit the pet shop).”
By 8pm, Athlone police were wrapping up their duties as a forensic investigator went inside and started photographing the scene.