Police members have come under fire in Cape Town over the past 24 hours.
Two off-duty sergeants were killed in two separate incidents in Khayelitsha on Sunday night.
“In one incident a 36-year-old police sergeant based at the Elsiesrivier police station was driving in Solomon Tshuku Street in Site C at approximately 17:30 when a gunman approached the vehicle he was driving and fired several shots at the driver. He was rushed to hospital where he later died”, said police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa.
“Meanwhile, at 18:00 another police sergeant was shot while he was with friends at Mandela Park by yet to be identified men in an incident suspected to be robbery related. The police sergeant was working at Nyanga SAPS”, added Potelwa.
On Monday, four cops were shot during an armed robbery at a mall in Nyanga.
“The suspects were fleeing the scene of an armed robbery on foot which they had perpetrated at a retail store inside the mall when they encountered the marked police vehicle with four SAPS members outside in the parking area. In a bid to evade arrest, the suspects fired several shots at the members, wounding three female constables and narrowly missing the male constable who was the driver. He managed to drive to a nearby hospital with his three wounded colleagues, where two are reportedly in a very serious condition. The members are aged between 26 and 32”, said Colonel Andrè Traut.
Western Cape Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC, Reagen Allen has condemned the attack on the members and said the perpetrators need to be brought to book.
“Criminals are showing that they have little regard for those mandated to serve and protect. As such, we should all ensure that elements such as these are not allowed to roam our streets, and instead they must end up behind bars. No one has been arrested in this regard, and these criminals need to be arrested so that they can face the full might of the law”.
