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Car thief shoots at paramedics
10/06/2007 20:28  - (SA)  

Johannesburg - Johannesburg paramedics found themselves in the line of fire in Quellerina on Sunday night when a car thief started shooting at them while trying to escape after a crash.

"It's every day we respond to shootings, but not every day we get shot at," said ER24 spokesperson Werner Vermaak, still rattled after the gunfire.

He said paramedics were called to the scene of "quite a serious accident" outside the MTN building on the corner of Sentinel and Fourteenth avenues at 18:00.

What they did not know, was that one of the cars was stolen, and that undercover police were after its occupant and had opened fire on him at the crash scene, he said.

The Fiat Punto had collided head-on with another vehicle.

Hijacked car

The driver of the stolen Fiat fled the scene, running down Fourteenth Avenue towards the N1. He hijacked a car in the slow-moving traffic, said Vermaak.

It was then that Vermaak arrived at the scene in one of three rescue vehicles sent to help.

The hijacker saw him and tried to swerve out of his way. "I don't know if he thought I was law enforcement or what," said Vermaak.

"The next thing, shots were fired in the direction of myself and the other paramedics on the scene," he said.

The hijacked vehicle hit an Audi, driven by an elderly woman, then carried on driving, taking the N1 in the direction of Soweto - with the police in pursuit.

"She didn't know what had happened... I was a little bit shocked as well," said Vermaak. "Fortunately no-one was hurt."

He said the car thief was thought to have been wounded in the initial shooting,

Vermaak did not know whether the car thief had been caught and the police could not immediately be reached to confirm the incident.