Two Gauteng detectives among five cops killed on duty in past seven days

10 May 2023 - 20:09
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Two detectives were found gunned down in Roodepoort on Wednesday. File photo.
Two detectives were found gunned down in Roodepoort on Wednesday. File photo.
Image: Elvis Ntombela

The police are mourning the death of two detectives gunned down just metres from a state vehicle in Roodepoort on Wednesday. 

This as police confirmed the deaths of three other police officers in the line of duty in the past seven days. Two were killed in Eastern Cape and another in Gauteng, said national police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe. 

Sharing details of Wednesday’s murders, Mathe said: “Two on-duty detectives attached to the Honeydew police station have been shot and killed in Roodepoort. The constable and sergeant were found metres away from a state vehicle. Gauteng police have mobilised resources to find those responsible for this crime.”

Police are yet to confirm the motive of the shooting.

On Sunday, a constable and his colleagues were shot while attending to a complaint at a house in Saulsville, Atteridgeville. 

“The constable succumbed to his gunshot wounds in hospital,” Mathe told TimesLIVE. 

Last Wednesday, a 42-year-old sergeant who was serving as a court orderly at the Motherwell magistrate's court in Gqeberha was gunned down while on duty.

According to police, the officer died after a man allegedly entered the court building disarmed him and then shot and killed him with his service pistol before fleeing on foot.

The suspect was wounded in a shoot-out with police when he was caught inside a minibus taxi.

On the same day, another officer attached to the public order police unit was gunned down while he was responding to an armed robbery in East London.

National police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola condemned the murders.

TimesLIVE

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