Up to four bodies – including that of the believed shooter – were reportedly recovered after a hostage situation in Moreleta Park in Pretoria East on Wednesday night.
One of the victims is the caretaker‚ Edward Gobey‚ a husband and father of two. His daughter Charlize described him on Facebook as a person who had only ever wanted to help other people as she posted photographs of her father. Family and friends shared their condolences.
Earlier‚ police confirmed that two police officers and three private security personnel had been retrieved from a male hostage-taker in the Meadows Complex residential estate.
Captain Dave Miller said on Wednesday that “police were able to retrieve hostages in a very sensitive situation”‚ but was unable to detail the role played by the SAPS Special Task Force in charge of the situation.
Edward Gobey's Facebook profile photograph from his December 2015 holiday in the Cape, which he described as "wonderful".
He had also described it as “a high-risk situation”.
Callers to Radio 702 on Thursday morning said the standoff began after an argument over a wall between a homeowner and a member of the body corporate escalated.
A local newspaper‚ the Pretoria East Rekord‚ quoted residents of the complex as saying that an elderly neighbour confronted the culprit‚ believed to be in his fifties‚ on Wednesday morning after he hurled a rock through the window of the woman’s car. Gobey was called to the scene by another resident. Gobey and two other people were gunned down by the man.
Garsfontein cluster spokesperson Captain Ilze Jones told media that police had brought in a hostage negotiator and that the SAPS Special Task Force had taken over the scene.
Yesterday evening‚ frustrated residents of a number of complexes in the posh suburb were unable to get into their houses as they returned from work.
The main road had been barricaded by police. The hostage situation lasted for more than seven hours as police tried to negotiate with the gunman.
– TMG Digital/The Times
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