Alleged Joburg robber shot dead, three injured

15 June 2009

A man was killed and three others injured in two separate shootouts between Johannesburg police and two gangs of heavily armed robbers on Monday morning, Gauteng police said.

The shootouts followed house robberies in Douglasdale in the west and Cyrildene in the east of Johannesburg, said Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini.

The first shootout took place in Fairland following a high speed chase between police and a group of five armed robbers from Honeydew, west of Johannesburg.

"Police got information that a group of armed men fled the scene of a house robbery in Douglasdale in a white Honda Civic and when they spotted the Honda in Honeydew, they gave chase," said Dlamini.

When they reached Fairland, the men allegedly opened fire at police officers, who retaliated and injured two of the men.

The injured men were taken to hospital and two of their alleged accomplices were arrested.

A hunt was still on for the fifth man, who ran away, said Fairland police spokeswoman Inspector Lorraine van Emmerik.

Dlamini, who had been at the Fairland scene, had to then rush to Cyrildene, a few kilometres away, to attend to a similar incident where two men were shot in a shootout with police officers.

One of the men died moments later on arrival in hospital, Dlamini said.

In this incident, five armed men broke into a house at 10am having driven there with a Porsche Cayenne believed to have been hijacked in Rosebank earlier this month.

But police called to the scene caught them off guard before they could leave the scene with the loot.

A shootout ensued between the two parties, leading three of the robbers to jump over the perimeter wall of the house into a neighbour's yard, said Dlamini.

As their hijacked Porsche was left in the first yard, the men hijacked a car they found parked in the second yard and fled the scene in it.

The car was found abandoned in Jules street in Jeppestown about 30 minutes later.

Police were still searching for the three men.

Meanwhile, police shot at the other two robbers. One of them died on arrival in hospital, said Dlamini.

"We recovered five firearms -- three 9mm pistols, an Uzzi and Colt pistol -- a police reflector jacket and a blue light, as well as two police identification cards," Dlamini said.

Police believed the items recovered in Cyrildene might have been used to carry out crimes around the province.

"This is a major breakthrough, especially with the Cyrildene incident because we believe these suspects could be linked to several violent crimes in the province. We think they are those who pose as police officers to commit the crimes," he said.

Police were still searching on Monday afternoon for the man who escaped in Fairland and the three men from the Cyrildene incident.- Sapa