The four police officers killed in Sunday’s bloody clash in Jeppestown in Johannesburg have been identified, while Gauteng’s provincial minister for community safety warned that criminals are mounting a guerrilla war.
The police officers who died were Inspector Frederick van Heerden (32) and Inspector Nzama Victor Mathye (49), both of the West Rand dog unit, Sergeant Gert Schoeman (30) of the West Rand emergency response service and Constable Peter Francois Seaward (31) of the Johannesburg dog unit.
Van Heerden’s wife Leonie, also a police officer, was injured.
Captain Dennis Adriao of the national commissioner’s office said on Monday the police officers died when the West Rand flying squad and dog unit ”heroically” chased down the heavily armed fugitives.
Eight fugitives died and 14 were arrested. Eleven were still in custody and due in court on Tuesday.
”All members on the scene, including the four who paid with their lives and the two who were injured, displayed the utmost courage and dedication to their duties. They were willing to forsake their own lives to protect the community,” said Adriao.
Incidents like Sunday’s bloody clash were ”nothing less than a guerrilla war on society and law abiding citizens”, Gauteng provincial minister for community safety Firoz Cachalia said in a media statement.
”The organised manner in which these incidents are carried out demands an organised response from the police and we want to send out a message to these syndicates that the police will not be intimidated into retreat.”
Together with the Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula, Cachalia said that, where necessary, the police must use legally sanctioned force.
”Criminals must feel the heat.”
On Sunday Nqakula said” ”anyone who points a firearm at police will be killed by police officers”.
Sunday’s shootout followed a robbery at a supermarket in Honeydew.
The police arrested one of the fleeing robbers, who then led them to a housed in Jeppestown where the shootout happened, said Cachalia.
The provincial minister also expressed his condolences to the families of the officers who died and said he would visit the bereaved families.
Police forensic teams searched the Jeppestown house after the shootout.
A ”large amount” of high-calibre weaponry was found at the house, said Adriao.
South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported that tens of thousands of rands were found in the house.
Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said the dead fugitives had not yet been identified.
”They’re still busy profiling them at the moment, seeing if they can be linked to any other crimes.” — Sapa