The two were "ambushed" by three men while walking along the footpath which follows the Pienaars River. The river separates Mamelodi east and west.

The father of three daughters started working at the station's radio control room after being seriously injured in a car smash in February.

It was Tshabalala who broke the news to Msimanga that her husband had been shot.

Rushing to her husband's aid, Msimanga carried the fatally wounded police officer to a taxi which rushed him to Mamelodi Day hospital, where he died.

Clutching her youngest daughter, a distraught Msimanga said her husband's last words to her were that he loved her and his family.

"He just smiled and told me that he loved me, that he loved us all."

Fighting back tears, Msimanga said she had been in the kitchen when she heard gunshots.

"I felt funny but did not think about it. It was when I saw Andries running into our house screaming that I knew that Joseph had been shot," she said.

Heavily armed police swarmed through the area. Several police officers, who asked not to be named, said they would hunt down the killers "and deal with them".

• This article was originally published on page 2 of Pretoria News on August 02, 2007