Man shot dead in cash heist crossfire

Cops storm wrong house, kill owner

Police tracking a gang of cashin-transit robbers yesterday killed a Pretoria homeowner and critically injured his family after they apparently stormed the wrong house.

Sowetan understands that two joggers were also shot and injured in the exchange of gunfire‚ and that three suspects had been arrested.

According to sources‚ the officers mistook the slain man’s house for the suspects’ hideout. There are multiple houses on the same property.

A police officer who lives across the road from the house in Kilner Park was injured when he ran to assist his neighbour‚ police sources said.

“It’s f **** d up. The suspects who were in their cars were seen in the street. When they saw the cops they fled in their vehicles.

“Police stormed the house they thought was the safehouse‚ but it was apparently the wrong house. For some reason one of the cops opened fire and then the others did. It’s a total mess‚” said a police source.

Another officer said several people were rushed to hospital. He said it was still too early to comment on their conditions‚ declining to say if women and children were among those injured.

Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said three people were arrested while two more were injured. He said the owner of the property was being questioned and nothing had been recovered from the scene.

Police spokeswoman Captain Ilse Jones confirmed that a shooting had occurred‚ but said she had no further details.

The operation was conducted by the National Intervention Unit‚ Special Task Force and Crime Intelligence Unit.

Meanwhile, cash-in-transit security officers will embark on nationwide protests on June 11 to demand that concrete measures be taken to deal with the increasing heists.

The Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) and its affiliate unions affected by the attacks said it would join the protest action against government.

Fedusa general secretary Dennis George said because ATMs must be loaded daily‚ a one-day strike would create a significant scarcity of money.

He said a two-day strike would cause large sums of cash piling up with retailers, while a three-day strike would cause an economic crisis.

Fedusa said the salaries of security officers‚ which average about R11 000 a month‚ should be increased to R20 000 because of the high risks associated with the job.

George said the heist pandemic was totally understated.

There were 180 such attacks in 2014 but that figure increased to 370 in 2017. –