By Shaun Smillie
A couple are fighting for their lives in hospital after being mown
down in a hail of bullets in a police reaction that went horribly
wrong.
The cops, responding to an emergency call about armed robbers in the
couple's house in Meyersdal, Alberton, opened fire on the vehicle in
which the husband and wife were travelling. The couple, who are in
their 40s, were in the intensive care unit of Alberton's Union
Hospital last night.
The robbers got away, but not before gang-raping the couple's daughter.
On Friday, the parents' bullet-riddled Land Cruiser stood in their driveway.
They were shot on Thursday evening after they had reversed at speed
out of the driveway of their house and failed to stop when challenged
by police.
Officers armed with automatic assault rifles opened fire.
The shooting occurred about two hours after five robbers had broken
into the double-storey house.
According to police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman, the
robbers had entered the house at about 9pm. They tied up the son, who
was alone, and began ransacking the home, loading goods into the
family's black Toyota RunX.
When the daughter arrived home, the robbers overpowered her, tied her
up and began raping her.
Opperman said the parents then drove into the driveway, returning from
a holiday. Police said shots were fired at the couple from the garage.
"Someone in the house was able to press a panic button," said Opperman.
When the security company phoned, they could hear a woman screaming
and were told that a house robbery was in progress. They notified the
police.
"Police were in the vicinity and were able to respond quickly. They
came with their lights flashing and in totally marked cars," explained
Opperman.
As police officers approached the house, they were fired at from
inside, he said. They returned fire.
As the police approached the house, said Opperman, the couple's white
Land Cruiser came reversing from the garage at high speed, its
headlights off.
The 4x4 then sped down Izak de Villiers Street towards other police
officers. Opperman said the officers had to dive for cover to avoid
the speeding car.
A police officer at the house on Friday said the Land Cruiser had been
packed with luggage, which probably suggested to the responding police
officers that these were the robbers with stolen goods.
A resident, who lives just metres from where the incident occurred,
heard what happened next.
"Somebody said 'Stop, police', then shooting, tat tat tat tat," said
the man, who did not want to be identified.
The Land Cruiser finally came to a halt about 200 metres from the house.
"Inside the car, a male voice said 'Are you police or metro?'. A lady
was screaming inside the car. Then someone must have fallen on the
steering wheel, because [the hooter] went on for 15 minutes," said the
witness.
A policeman, processing the crime scene yesterday, said the car had
been hit 28 times. The windscreen had nine bullet holes in it and both
the driver and passenger side doors were hit. The tyres were shot out.
Netcare 911 paramedics arrived quickly and stabilised both patients at
the scene.
"The paramedic told me that both had been hit more than once," said
Netcare 911 spokesperson Nick Dollman.
Police then entered the house but found that the robbers had jumped
the back wall and disappeared into the veld.
Hospital spokesperson Laurinda Xavier said the couple were in a stable
but critical condition.
Police recovered a stolen 9mm pistol, a large knife and some clothing
believed to have belonged to the suspects.
Opperman said Meyersdal had become a prime target for house robbers in
recent times and, ironically, the police's quick reaction time on
Thursday night was in part a result of heightened awareness.
The Independent Complaints Directorate will investigate the shooting.
This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on August 30, 2008
Source:IOL
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20080830091724252C382766
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