WATCH | Shootout erupts as guard, robber injured in foiled Eastern Cape heist

24 July 2019 - 13:46 By Malibongwe Dayimani
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A dramatic shootout between a G4S armed guard and three thugs was caught by a CCTV camera outside the Caltex garage on Willowvale Main Road, in the Eastern Cape, on Friday afternoon. The gunfight left the guard and two of the robbers seriously injured.

National police spokesperson Brig Vishnu Naidoo told DispatchLIVE the guard was rushed to hospital with bullet wounds.

The gang escaped in a Golf 7 empty-handed after one of them was hit in the legs and dropped the cash cannister as he tried to run to the getaway car.

In the footage, the lone guard is seen being ambushed while returning to the cash van outside the filling station shop after collecting money from the store’s safe.

He steps into the van, but a robber appears and fires into the van from a metre or two away. The guard fires back and the robber runs for cover around a corner.

Another robber appears and also fires into the van. He grabs the cash cannister and is seen running across the forecourt while shots are fired. The robber falls, then gets up, runs, and falls again. He reaches the getaway car and is bundled into the back seat. The getaway car races away.

The injured guard is seen making a quick dash from the back of the van to retrieve the cash cannister, and then runs back towards the cash van as it speeds away from the scene.

Store owner Tshidi Tembela, 36, said this was the store’s first robbery since she took charge two years ago. Tembela said one of the wounded robbers fled on foot.

“We are talking with the neighbouring business to see if they can share their CCTV footage with us so that he can be tracked.”

The robbers remain at large, according to Naidoo.

Tembela said that moments before the attack, one of the thugs was seen on CCTV footage chasing away school children headed towards the shop.

The injured guard is seen making a quick dash from the back of the van to retrieve the cash cannister. The cash van also speeds away from the scene.

Naidoo said the incident happened at 1.45pm.

“The security guard was returning to his CIT [cash-in-transit] vehicle after collecting money from a garage at Willowvale Main Street, when he was shot at. A second suspect tried to grab the money bag but the guards resisted by firing back, forcing them to flee without taking the money bags.

“Unfortunately, one guard was wounded during the skirmish and he was rushed to hospital. It is also possible that one of the suspects was wounded during the shootout.”

Meanwhile, 10 suspects appeared in the East London magistrate’s court for an attempted cash-in-transit robbery after they were arrested in Peddie on June 28, allegedly on their way to rob a cash van.

The suspects, aged between 25 and 50, were arrested during an intelligence-led operation conducted in the East London area by various police units, said provincial police spokesperson Col Sibongile Soci.

A group of eight was arrested near King William's Town with four 9mm firearms. Two others were stopped outside Port Alfred. Four firearms were recovered from them.


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