Bullets flew and shoppers ran for cover as security guards and robbers exchanged gunfire in a busy Gugulethu mall.
|||Cape Town -
Bullets flew and shoppers ran for cover as security guards and robbers exchanged gunfire in a busy Gugulethu mall on Sunday.
The shooting unfolded just after noon, when five men attempted to rob a Jet Mart store inside the Gugulethu Square Shopping Centre.
Six people were injured, including two security guards, two employees from some of the stores and two of the robbers.
Sithembiso Sidubulekana, a security guard, said the mall was packed as shoppers flocked to do their grocery shopping and to grab a bite to eat.
When four young men approached him inside the Jet Store, he assumed they were customers. Another man was standing at the entrance of the store.
“But they said to me, stay calm, don’t do anything emotional, we are not here to hurt anyone. We just want the money… Then they lifted their shirts and showed me they had guns on them.”
The security guard said the group was armed with pistols.
The robbers took Sidubulekana and another security guard, who work together at the shop, to the back of the store.
“They moved to the tills, and started asking people for their cellphones,” he said.
But the robbery turned sour after one of the robbers, standing at the door, clashed with a mall security guard at the shop’s entrance.
“There was a scuffle… Then the other (robbers) just started shooting at the entrance.”
There was chaos in the store as people started screaming, dropping to the ground to avoid the bullets which were flying overhead.
Sidubulekana said the gang started to flee, but another set of security guards in the mall opened fire on them.
“Two of the robbers were shot.”
Five robbers managed to flee from the scene. While it was not yet established how they left the mall at the time of going to print, police presumed they drove away.
On Sunday, the mall was closed off as police questioned staff and investigated the crime scene.
Police spokesman Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana said despite the robbers’ complex operation they didn’t get any cash.
“In other words, their planned attempt failed and was completely unsuccessful.”
He added that one of the robbers had dropped their firearm at the scene.
By Sunday night, no arrests had been made.
Kinana said police had opened cases of attempted murder and attempted business robbery.
kieran.legg@inl.co.za
Cape Argus