Cape Town: Three police officers of the city were shot in a span of one week. Out of those three, one police officer is in a critical condition admitted in the hospital.
Identified as South African Police Service’s (SAPS) constable – Ashley Baumann was shot with gun while approaching the three suspicious individuals in Factreton, on Monday.
According to the police spokesperson – Andre Traut, around 12:30 a.m. two police constables associated with Kensington police station, approached three individuals under suspicious circumstances on the corners of Lugmag Avenue and Drommedaris Road in Factreton for questioning, when one of them fled away on foot.
Traut added to his narration that the suspect fired the shots at policeman Baumann aged 34, who got seriously wounded. He was then taken to the hospital and is currently in a critical condition.
‘The two suspects aged 21 and 26 were detained for the further questioning while the third one is needed to be arrested yet. The case is still under investigation and the court proceedings are yet to be scheduled,” said the spokesperson Traut.
As per the sources, the attack followed the detective – Sibusiso Nonjezi, just after the days he was hijacked from his state vehicle and shot in Nyanga.
Furthermore, on Thursday, Atlantis officer Sergeant Adrian Mahoney aged 44 was killed in Mamre while he and his partner responded to a report of a domestic dispute.
According to the SAPS, Mahoney was shot when the suspect got a hold of his firearm during an altercation.
As per the report by IOL, Provincial Police Commissioner – Thembisile Patekile has activated all the available resources to find the suspect. He stated, “SAPS will not tolerate shooting of its members. We will use all our resources to track down the perpetrators, as like we did with the shooting of the Atlantis officer and the same stance will be followed with others.”
Western Cape MEC of community safety and police oversight – Reagen Allen said that the shootings represent how criminals disregard the law enforcement.
“I wish the officer a speedy recovery. As criminals are becoming a brazen. This is one of the reasons why those who attack law enforcement officers should be charged as one who is attacking the state,” said Allen.
He further stated that the two individuals are currently being questioned and should assist SAPS to ensure the third person is also apprehended.
