Trainee cop dies during combat training

THE Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) is investigating the death of a student police officer who was killed during a training session.

According to spokesperson Lizzy Suping the incident took place at the Thabazimbi Tactial Academy in Limpopo recently: “The recruits were undergoing tactical and combat training when the student officer was accidentally killed.”

Suping said Ipid would pronounce on the outcome once the investigation is complete. SAPS confirmed an investigation was under way and would be in conjunction with Ipid’s probe.

The National police commissioner General Fannie Masemola has sent his condolences to the family. It is understood the SAPS staff were also offered trauma counselling.

In a separate incident in 2016, a Durban cop was killed at a Pietermaritzburg shooting range. Malcolm Goodwin, 40, died of a gunshot wound to the heart while attending a tactical intervention exercise.

It is believed the colleague who shot Goodwin had been paired off with him during an exercise. The Post reported the two had been simulating a shooting encounter with a suspect.