Cop probed for shooting suspected shop robber

The stepmother of a 24-year-old Cape Town man who was killed by a policeman says his family is “still in shock with mixed emotions of pain and anger”.

Darren Maggott was shot dead on Thursday by a flying squad member while he was being hunted as a suspect in a robbery at a Stellenberg superette the previous day. In that incident‚ a man in a balaclava and hoodie stole cash and fled in a white car.

According to Yolandi Maggott‚ Darren - who lived with his grandparents in Durbanville and had been out of work since January - went to see detectives after they raided his house the previous night‚ but fled from Durbanville police station because “he was scared”.

“The officers told us that he wasn’t under arrest‚ and that he had become panicked after voluntarily going to the police station‚” she said. “They said that there was no evidence that he was guilty and that they were only looking for him.”

Darren was killed in his white Nissan‚ which was linked to the scene of the robbery‚ next to a dam in Plattekloof. He was shot nine times‚ reportedly by a single officer.

Yolandi said police claimed he reached for one of two “BB guns” on the passenger seat‚ but she questioned the extent of the officer’s response.

“Why did they have to shoot him nine times?” she said. “He was a normal‚ harmless boy.”

Moses Dlamini‚ spokesman for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate‚ said an investigation was under way. “Until [it] is concluded‚ we must respect that there is only speculation‚” he said.

Yolandi claimed that despite the police saying they “didn’t think Darren was dangerous”‚ crime intelligence launched a full-scale search for her stepson after he fled the police station on Thursday morning.

“They went on a manhunt all day‚” she said. “They tracked him in Table View‚ Muizenberg… he was obviously scared and drove around all day. When he got tired he parked next to the dam‚ his seat was reclined.”

Regarding the Stellenberg robbery‚ Dlamini said no arrests had been made.

As Yolandi prepares for Darren’s memorial service next Tuesday‚ she said “the family will miss him tremendously. He was their whole life.”

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