Security guard shot with own gun   
July 20 2007 at 07:53PM

A 33-year-old security guard was shot dead with his own gun by a gang of armed robbers outside a bank in Richards Bay on Friday, police said.

Captain Renee van der Westhuizen said the guard had emerged from the Standard Bank at the town's Boardwalk shopping complex on Friday afternoon when he was confronted by three men.

Eyewitnesses reported that the guard was disarmed and then shot with his own gun. The armed robbers grabbed the money boxes he had collected from the bank and ran towards a blue sedan.

Two of the men had jumped in the car when the driver of the Coin Security van started to give chase. The driver left behind the third armed robber, who dropped his money box and fled on foot.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said the security guard died before paramedics arrived on scene. He had been shot in the head, chest and arm.

Van der Westhuizen would not divulge how much cash the robbers had made off with, except to say: "It was a large sum of money." - Sapa