The Wild West comes to South Africa
iol.co.za
>>Robbers turn mall into war zone
A shootout between about 17 armed robbers and police turned Fourways shopping mall in Johannesburg into a mini war zone on Thursday morning.
Violence erupted as five men opened fire on two police officers after they robbed a jewellery store at about 11am, said police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman.
The two uniformed policemen were on patrol duty at the mall.
"When the robbers saw them they fired at these officers who returned fire... there was a running gun battle (in the centre) and one of the robbers was shot in the chest," he said.
The injured man was dragged down a service passage.
Outside 12 accomplices were waiting and joined in the gun battle.
"The battle continued in the parking area until the robbers jumped into four vehicles and chased away from the scene," said Opperman.
They took the wounded robber with them.
He said "miraculously" only one robber and no-one else was injured in the shooting. Several vehicles were, however, damaged.
The five who robbed the Michael's Design jewellery store held the staff at gunpoint.
"They fired shots at some display cabinets, breaking the glass. Some jewellery was taken," Opperman said.
The value of the jewellery taken was not known.
"No arrests have been made yet and the investigation is continuing," said Opperman. - Sapa <<
iol.co.za
>>Robber wounded during shootout with police
A robber was critically wounded and his two accomplices arrested after a shootout with police in Kempton Park on Thursday.
North Rand police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman said the gang opened fire when a dog unit patrol tried to pull them over at 5am.
The police returned fire, wounding the driver of the car in his back. He lost control of the vehicle and it overturned.
The other two men in the car ran into the dense bush at the side of the road, said Opperman.
'The family in the house was overpowered'
A police dog sniffed out one of the men, who was arrested at the scene. The third was arrested at his home on the East Rand later in the day, he said.
"Investigations then showed that the car and all the goods in it were stolen during an armed robbery at a house in Boksburg during the early hours of Thursday morning.
"The family in the house was overpowered, intimidated and held at gunpoint."
Police spokesperson Captain Jethro Mtshali said the goods recovered included a number of electrical appliances, three cellphones and two laptops. Two stolen pistols were also found in the gang's car.
He said the wounded man was under police guard in the Tembisa Hospital. He faced charges of possession of suspected stolen property, possession of unlicensed firearms and possession of a stolen vehicle.
Opperman said the two others arrested would appear in the Kempton Park magistrate's court on Monday on charges of armed robbery, attempted murder, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. - Sapa<<
news24.com
>>Bloody end to Easter holiday
"The moment I saw the attacker's mate put his fingers in his ears, I knew they were going to shoot us."
These were the words of John Louw, 40, a property financing consultant from Strand, after he and a friend survived a hail of bullets outside the popular southern Mozambican holiday resort of Ponta Malongane.
"I shouted at my friend, Jacques (Gees) Groenewald: 'Oh fuck Gees, they're going to shoot us!' The next moment the bullets rained inside the bakkie [pick up van].
"Me, my wife, Esperanza and three other couples and our children decided to spend a few days in Mozambique over the Easter weekend." They stayed at Ponta Malongane to the north of Sodwana Bay.
'Take everything'
Louw said they wanted to visit a bay called Frederico some distance from the resort at about 11:00 on Friday. His wife and children at the last moment decided not to accompany them.
"We were about four minutes from our camp when two armed men suddenly appeared in front of our bakkie. One was wearing camouflage, the other one shorts and a T-shirt. They were accompanied by a boy of about 12 to 15 years old," said Louw, who did army service in Angola and recognised the rifles as AK-47s.
"Because of the poor state of the roads one can drive only about 10km/h. We stopped right next to them. The first thing I said was 'take everything - take whatever you want'." One of the attackers answered in English: "We don't want anything."
"Then I noticed the boy putting his fingers in his ears." Louw put his foot down on the accelerator of his 4x4 in an attempt to escape.
"The first bullet smashed the dashboard. We wanted to race away, but the bakkie's window frame caught the barrel of the rifle. The second bullet missed my legs and hit the floor of the bakkie between the pedals.
"Chaos erupted - it was like something from an action movie." Louw said they raced away from the machine gun bullets. They afterwards counted more than 14 bullet holes in the bakkie.
Minutes later they met a vehicle carrying more members of their party who had left camp a few minutes after them. Only then did he feel the pain in his buttocks. "When I touched it, my hand was covered in blood." He was hit through the bakkie's seat. The bullet hit the top of his left buttock before disintegrating.
X-rays showed how shrapnel was distributed from Louw's hip joint to the top of the femur.
Louw was surprised that the resorts in Mozambique didn't have any first aid or any other medical equipment.
Back at the camp he was stabilised by a paramedic from Pretoria who had accompanied a group of divers. "She put me on a drip. The resort had half an hour's oxygen, which she gave me."
They decided to drive to the border under police guard. A Netcare 911 ambulance from Richard's Bay met them halfway.
Louw was admitted to Bay Hospital in Richard's Bay seven hours after the shooting. "They gave me a pain killer for the first time." After two days in hospital there, he flew back from Durban to Cape Town on Sunday. After spending a night in Vergelegen MediClinic in Somerset West, the doctors decided not to remove the shrapnel. "It's dangerously close to an artery and nerves."
Louw was angry because the resort did nothing to help him, but apparently charged him R2500 for the use of the oxygen.
There was no answer at the number of the owners of the resort in Nelspruit on Monday.<<
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