Athlone shootout: cops were trailing robbers
|Published
FEE BEARING - CAPE TOWN - 150609 - Armed robbery that when wrong this happened at primrose cafe on the corner of Orion and comet street Surrey estate. 2 shot dead 4 injured . A few were arrested . A policeman is critical . Security chased and caught suspects in Kim and Jupiner street in Surrey estate. - Photo: Leon Knipe FEE BEARING - CAPE TOWN - 150609 - Armed robbery that when wrong this happened at primrose cafe on the corner of Orion and comet street Surrey estate. 2 shot dead 4 injured . A few were arrested . A policeman is critical . Security chased and caught suspects in Kim and Jupiner street in Surrey estate. - Photo: Leon Knipe
Cape Town - A shoot-out in the heart of Surrey Estate, Athlone, has left a police officer and a shopper injured and three thieves dead after a heavily armed gang attempted to hold up a local store.
According to authorities, undercover police officers had trailed the robbers, who were driving two vehicles, to the Primrose Markette next to the Engen Service Station on the corner of Ruimte and Orion streets on Monday night.
Radio 786 reported on Tuesday morning that crime intelligence officers belonging to the SAPS Flying Squad had been keeping tabs on the suspects for a while.
When the suspected thieves pulled up in front of the Primrose Markette at around 9.30pm, they jumped from their vehicles and stormed the store.
According to sources, there were at least six men armed with pistols and automatic rifles. It is unclear whether they managed to steal anything from inside the store, although they allegedly held up staff at gunpoint.
But when they left, they were confronted by the police officers and opened fire.
Surrey Estate Neighbourhood Watch member Yasien Regal said he heard the rattle of gunfire clearly, even though his home is over a kilometre away from where the shooting took place.
“I heard all these shots being fired and then suddenly it was quiet.”
Regal would later find out that the thieves who had been left standing had scattered, while three of their accomplices lay bleeding to death in front of the shop. One of the police officers also had been injured, along with a shopper who was caught in the crossfire.
Regal said the shopper was a woman who appeared to live in the area. She was rushed to hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.
Police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk said on Tuesday morning that both the 43-year-old officer and the woman were in a serious but stable condition.
The neighbourhood watch was called on to help comb the area for any sight of the shooters as the police deployed more vehicles and a helicopter in the neighbourhood. According to one report, some of the thieves had sped off in their vehicles which police later recovered.
Searches did not turn up any signs of the three, or possibly more, men who managed to flee from the scene, said Van Wyk. Of the three robbers who had been wounded during the shoot-out, two died on the street. The third was rushed to hospital but ultimately succumbed to his wounds.
Van Wyk said: “The circumstances of the matter are currently under investigation by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.”
Regal said that it was fortunate that only one civilian had been injured in the shoot-out.
“It’s a busy place at that time of night and there must’ve been a lot of people out on the street,” he told the Cape Argus on Tuesday morning.
He said the robbery was just the latest to hit the strip of shops in Surrey Estate which had become a “soft target” for criminals. “They are robbing everyone, they’ve hit the local butcher twice,” he said.
Residents were still in shock on Tuesday morning, some expressing fear as to the whereabouts of the three suspects who are still at large, according to the neighbourhood watch’s Facebook page.
Cape Argus