Man shot in Pretoria mall

A man was wounded in the head in a shooting at a restaurant in the Menlyn Park mall, in Pretoria, on Monday afternoon, police said.

"Last I heard, he was still in a critical condition," said Warrant Officer Annabel Middleton. He was in the Steve Biko Academic hospital.

"A man just walked up and shot the man in the back of the head," the restaurant's manager Wayne Koning said.

He said four shots were fired. No one else was wounded in the shooting, shortly before 2pm.

"There were four pops. Originally people might have thought it was firecrackers."

People realised what was happening and dived to the ground.

"The [shooter] just walked towards the door. Us four shop managers followed him to the doors and took the gun from him."

Koning said the man did not resist and was handed over to mall security.

"If you didn't see he was the man who did the shooting, you wouldn't have known it was him. His demeanour was that calm. He literally just turned around and walked away."

A 44-year-old Algerian man had been taken into police custody, Middleton said.

The restaurant was cordoned off and police were seen taking statements.

"The situation is now under control and the centre has been declared safe. We would like to express our sympathies to the victim and his family," the mall's management said in a statement.