A member of the public shot dead one robber and residents nabbed another two in separate incidents in Pretoria on Tuesday, police said.
In the first incident in Pretoria North, a man shot at two alleged robbers as they were trying to hijack a vehicle at the Kolonnade Shopping Centre, said spokesperson Constable Brenda Kgafela.
He killed one and seriously wounded his accomplice.
Earlier the pair had allegedly followed an employee from a Spar to the Kolonnade where he was going to deposit the shop’s money.
When he arrived there they held him at gunpoint and grabbed the bag containing the money. Motorists blocked their escape route when they tried to flee in a green Opel Corsa.
They abandoned the car and tried to hijack another in the street outside the complex when the member of the public shot at them.
Kgafela said police later established that the two were also involved in a housebreaking last Tuesday in Sinoville, where they allegedly tied up a domestic worker before taking several household goods.
The Opel was reported stolen in Garsfontein on Tuesday morning.
In an unrelated incident in Pretoria Central, members of the public caught two of four suspected robbers after they held up a cellphone shop.
Kgafela said when the men fled with cellphones and recharge vouchers members of the community gave chase. Police on routine patrol in the area arrested the two. The pair with the loot managed to get away.
Kgafela said one of the two arrested men was found in possession of an unlicensed firearm. They later took police to their home in Soshanguve where another stolen firearm was found as well as tools used to break into cars. — Sapa