Samaritan killed in apparent love triangle

Stopping to help a motorist who had been shot and set alight cost a good Samaritan his life.

The gunman, who is on the run, allegedly attacked his girlfriend and a male companion on the N1 near Maraisburg, west of Johannesburg, on Tuesday night.

Justin Hampson, a paramedic who attended the scene, said two men were dead by the time he arrived.

"The man who tried to help was in his bakkie. He had been shot twice. There were four bullet holes through his front windscreen.

"The other man was still in the car, which was riddled with bullets and burning."

Hampson said a woman had been brought to the scene by her brother. She had told police that she and a "male friend" had been forced off the highway allegedly by her boyfriend.

"The woman described how she had managed to escape but her friend, who got into a fight with her boyfriend, was killed. [She told how] during the shooting the car burst into flames. The other man was shot when he stopped to help," Hampson, who works for Vitalmed Ambulance Services, said, adding that 12 bullet cartridges had been found on the scene.

Russel Meiring, an ER24 ambulance services spokesman, said both men had sustained multiple gunshot wounds.

Police spokesman Warrant Officer Kay Makhubela said it appeared that the car that caught alight had been forced off the road.

"The driver was shot and the vehicle set alight. It appears the second motorist, who was trying to help, was shot moments after he stopped his car," he said.

"We have recovered shell casings fired from a handgun.

"At this stage, the gunman's identity, like the motive, is unknown."