Cape Town - It was a dark start to the new week for police as brazen criminals shot dead two off-duty cops and wounded three officers in separate incidents.
Three police constables aged between 26 and 32 were shot and wounded at about 8am on Monday when fleeing robbers opened fire on their marked vehicle at the Junxion mall in Philippi.
Two of the wounded were in serious condition.
“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,” said police spokesperson Andrè Traut.
According to Traut, the driver rushed his wounded colleagues to a nearby hospital.
He said the group of about six suspects fled in a silver Opel LDV with false registration plates and are yet to be arrested.
Meanwhile, at about 5.30pm, a 36-year-old police sergeant based at the Elsies River police station was driving along Solomon Tshuku Street in Site C, Khayelitsha, when a gunman approached the vehicle and fired several shots at the driver.
Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said the officer was rushed to a hospital where he died.
About 30 minutes later another police sergeant was shot dead while he was with friends in Mandela Park
in Khayelitsha by “yet-to-be-identified gunmen in an incident suspected to be robbery-related”.
Last month, the Nyanga police visible policing (Vispol) unit head was also shot and wounded while responding with three colleagues to an armed robbery in progress at Brown’s Farm.
Acting Western Cape police commissioner Major-General Bongani Maqashalala said the SAPS management in the province was disheartened by the loss.
“The two police officials were in the prime of their lives. They still had a lot to offer to the communities of the Western Cape. As the management of SAPS, we will continue to keep the bereaved families in our thoughts and prayers,” he said.
Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Reagen Allen said these criminals needed to be arrested so they could face the full might of the law.
“Criminals are showing that they have little to no 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 end up behind bars.
“My stance is clear that an attack on any law enforcement officer, which includes police members, is an attack on the state.
“We cannot afford to lose any more of our officers, as they play a pertinent role in our protection and upholding the law. I would like all our officers of the law to be vigilant and resolute in their crime-fighting efforts,” said Allen.
The SACP’s Bensin Ngqentsu said police officers were vulnerable in communities because laws made it difficult for police officers to protect themselves “because in some instances they get accused of being brutal while trying to save their lives”.
The SA Policing Union (Sapu) national spokesperson, Lesiba Thobakgale, said it was evident that police officers were being targeted by criminals whether they were on duty or not.
“We have seen a slight increase where police get targeted when they are isolated, they get attacked, some killed and their service pistols taken and are used to commit more crimes by hardened criminals.
“Criminals even have the audacity to go to police stations to attack the police and even shoot at them as it has been reported with the latest incident that occurred in the Free State at a satellite police station.”
Thobakgale reiterated that the killing of police officers should be declared treason to deter criminals from attacking and killing them.
Cape Times