The Minibus Taxi That Was Involved in a Shootout With The Police
Image: The New Age.
In an incident reminiscent of scenes in Hollywood movie, police in Johannesburg were involved in a shooting on the busy M1 freeway on Tuesday morning, shooting one person seriously in the process. However, it appears that the police were still not aware of the reason why the shooting took place.
According to information obtained from the police, the whole commotion started in Pretoria at a taxi rank where there was a commotion around a taxi. When the police approached the vehicle, a sprinter minibus taxi, it sped off with two occupants in it. The police followed in hot pursuit as it joined the Johannesburg bound N1 freeway. As they were in hot chase, they called for back up, which brought several other police cars and a helicopter.
According to police spokesman, Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar, one person was shot while the other eluded the police after the sprinter they were traveling in came to a stop on the off ramp of Joe Slovo in Houghton. Adding to this body of knowledge, eye witnesses described a scene which involved several police cars and a police helicopter in the shooting against the two suspects in the car. The police contend that it is the suspects in the car that started shooting at the police who were in pursuit. Adding to what transpired, inspector Lungelo Dlamini said that after the taxi stopped, the driver got out and he and his passenger started shooting at the police. He said that the police returned the fire, effectively wounding the driver in the upper leg. He was then incarcerated by the police while his accomplice escaped, apparently unscathed. Police say that they have his particulars and are sure that they will be able to catch up with him. The injured suspect was taken to a nearby hospital under police guard.
By 3 pm, the helicopter was still at the scene of the shooting and the M1 freeway was still closed to traffic in both directions which caused a huge backlog of traffic around Johannesburg city centre. The police could only confirm that the car the two suspects were driving was not stolen. They could not, however say what their crime was but could only state that the police became suspicious when the two sped off on being approached by police and also when they started shooting at the police. The police also confirmed that the two men would be charged with attempted murder and malicious damage to state property. It was also further confirmed that there were no civilian injuries even though there was talk of some other cars being bumped in the commotion.
