Pensioners flee robbery shoot-out

02 July 2015 - 02:17 By Sipho Masombuka

As bullets whizzed around 73-year-old Nhlanhla Ngwenya's head, the pensioner threw herself under a car and prayed. "I was pleading with God to spare me from the bullets," she said.More than 40 police cones in the parking ground at Soshanguve Plaza, north of Pretoria, marked where spent cartridges fell, testimony to the morning terror Ngwenya and other pensioners endured.A gang of 10 men confronted Fidelity cash-in-transit guards as they unloaded cash boxes loaded with money for pension payments. The robbers opened fire randomly, wounding eight pensioners and two security guards. Most of the wounded were hit in the legs.Ngwenya said she saw people screaming and running for cover."I saw a guy running towards the van with two guns, shooting. I just rolled on the ground and under the car."I stayed put until there was no more shooting and screaming."Ephraim Khoza, 69, who is partially paralysed, said he dived to the ground when the shooting started. His walking stick was broken in two as frightened people trod on it as they fled."It was like a movie. I saw one robber running with a black case but he tripped and fell, but he quickly sprang up with the case and threw it into the waiting bakkie and they sped off," he said.Police said the amount of money stolen was not known...

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