GunFacts South Africa - Getting Real about Guns!

Guards, bystander injured in heist
July 24 2007 at 04:28AM By Jeff Wicks & Graeme Hosken

Two security guards and a bystander were seriously injured on Monday when six gunmen opened fire on them in one of two cash heists in KwaZulu-Natal.

Organised Crime Unit Superintendent Willie Olivier said that two SBV guards had been removing money from an ATM at the Oasis BP garage in Cato Ridge on Monday afternoon when six men, armed with AK47 assault rifles and 9mm handguns, fired on them.

The guards and a bystander had been injured in the ensuing gun battle. "Nine cars parked at the garage were riddled with bullets," said Olivier.

'As soon as I heard the first shot, I dropped to the floor'

Tshepo Gabe, 33, who was on his way home to Kimberly, said shots had rung out as he had walked towards the shop.

"As soon as I heard the first shot, I dropped to the floor. When I looked up, I saw the robbers two metres away from me."

Gabe said that while crawling towards the shop entrance, he had felt a bullet hit his side.

"I just lay still until the robbers left. One of my friends used a first-aid kit to try and stop the bleeding," he said.

Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said that one of the guards had sustained four gunshot wounds and was in a critical condition.

He had been airlifted from the scene by the Netcare 911 helicopter and flown to St Anne's Hospital in Pietermaritzburg. It is believed that he underwent emergency surgery late last night.

"The remaining two men sustained one gunshot wound each and were transported to St Anne's by ambulance in a serious but stable condition," said Botha.

Olivier said the robbers had hijacked two cars and fled the scene without taking any cash.

Just 30 minutes earlier, a substantial amount of money had been stolen from a Coin security guard at the Pinecrest shopping centre in Pinetown.

Police Captain Debbie O'Brien said that the guard had been held up by two armed men.

The gunmen robbed the guard of his weapon and the cash box he had just collected. They fled in a black Toyota RunX, which was later recovered at KwaDabeka, near New Germany.

Meanwhile, in Pretoria a robber was killed and four heavily armed gunmen were arrested after a cash heist in which a security van was set alight.

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