Suspected robber shot dead by police

Ischke de Jager

An Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) officer shot dead a robbery suspect on the N12 highway, near the Rondebult Bridge in Boksburg, Gauteng.

Boksburg North police spokesperson Lieutenant Juanita Coetzer said the deceased and his accomplice had just robbed an Edgars store at the Mayfield Square, near Daveyton on Sunday.

“They stole clothes and cellphones and drove away in a white Corsa bakkie,” added Coetzer.

While on the highway, the two men were pulled over by the metro police officers. The officers who stopped them were not aware of the Mayfield Square robbery, said Coetzer.

The passenger in the suspect’s vehicle got out to meet an EMPD officer, who was approaching their vehicle.

EMPD spokesperson Kobeli Mokheseng said the driver of the car tried to bribe the officer with R100, after claiming he did not have a licence.

Mokheseng said the passenger of the Opel approached the passenger in the EMPD vehicle with a gun and tried to disarm him.

“The driver of the metro police vehicle noticed this and shot at him, fatally wounding the man. The suspect died on the scene after he succumbed to his wounds,” added Mokheseng.

Benoni police cluster spokesperson Lieutenant Nomsa Sekele said the suspects stormed into an Edgars store earlier on the same day.

“One of them pointed a firearm at the manager and told everyone it was a robbery,” said Sekele.

She said the men made off with seven bags of clothes and money.

A case of armed robbery has been opened and police investigations are ongoing.

Last month, one of three suspects involved in a business robbery was shot dead in Phoenix, Durban, in KwaZulu-Natal.

It is alleged three robbers entered the shop and informed the victim they wanted to buy some chips, then walked around the shop. One of the suspects approached the victim at gunpoint and demanded cash, said provincial police spokesperson Major Thulani Zwane.

Police allegedly shot and killed the suspect after he pulled out his firearm and pointed it at the police, added Zwane. – Caxton News Service

One of them pointed a firearm at the manager and told everyone it was a robbery Lieutenant Nomsa Sekele Spokesperson, Benoni police