A massive hunt was under way on Friday for four men who shot dead a Johannesburg metro police officer and critically injured a South African Police Service officer and another metro police officer.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Sanku Tsunke said the police officials were in a marked vehicle and when they on the corner of Walters and Jan Smuts avenues in Rosebank, four men in a parked car opened fire on them.
They were shot at with handguns and automatic rifles.
”They did so with no provocation whatsoever,” said Tsunke.
The gang sped off in a Red Nissan 1400 bakkie and a white Volkswagen Polo.
Tsunke was not able to confirm a robbery, earlier reported by Netcare’s spokesperson Paul Nel.
One metro police officer died, and the two other officials were rushed to hospital in a critical condition.
”The police are very upset by this and everyone is looking for them,” said Tsunke.
A distressed metro police spokesperson Edna Mamonyane said: ”Two of my officers have been gunned down. I am on my way to the scene.”
Earlier this week, metro police officers came under fire in Parktown from taxi drivers who were stopped over fines.
At the beginning of November, a tip-off led to the discovery of a stolen vehicle and four automatic rifles with 400 rounds of ammunition and prevented a major robbery at the Rosebank Mall.
Police received a tip-off about a planned robbery at a shopping mall or a possible cash-in-transit heist, and then found a silver-blue BMW 5-series parked in Tyrwhitt Street, Rosebank, near the mall.
The car was kept under surveillance for the rest of the afternoon. When most of the shoppers had gone home, the police moved in. In the car, they found three AK-47s, a Vektor R6 and 400 rounds of ammunition for the rifles.
In September, a security guard was killed and two injured during a robbery at the Rosebank Mall. — Sapa