Shopper fights back to save car
A man fired a shot at alleged thieves leaving the Mall of the South parking lot in his car after the men assaulted him with a hammer and fists.
|||Johannesburg - Violence reared its ugly head again at the Mall of the South when a man fired a shot at other men leaving the parking lot in his car after the men assaulted him with a hammer and fists.
However, quick-acting security guards apprehended the men. They were arrested and were expected to appear in court on Thursday.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said the victim had parked his Toyota Tazz on the upper level of the mall’s parking lot at about 6.45 on Tuesday night.
He returned at about 8.30, to find the back lights on.
“He found a man on the driver side of his vehicle trying to start the vehicle. He fought with the suspect as he tried to remove him from his vehicle. There was another green Toyota Tazz parked next to his vehicle with three men came out and started assaulting the complainant with a hammer and fists,” said Dlamini.
Amid the chaos, the man in his car managed to start it and drive to the exit.
“The complainant ran after the suspects and fired one warning shot,” Dlamini said.
“Two suspects aged between 40 and 42 were arrested and are detained in Mondeor and charged with attempted theft of a motor vehicle and possession of a suspected stolen motor vehicle.”
The two other men fled on foot.
The green Tazz which was left at the scene is thought to have been stolen in Hillbrow at the beginning of the month.
The men are due to appear in the Joburg Magistrate's Court on Thursday.
Mall of the South spokesman Waldo Marcus told The Star on Wednesday morning that the security guards reacted quickly to the incident.
While Dlamini said it was the victim who fired the shot, Marcus said it was one of the guards.
No one was injured in the shooting but Marcus said during the commotion, one of the men ran into a glass door which then shattered.
In the eight months it has been open, the mall has been blighted by armed robberies.
Last year in October, a gunman robbed Browns Jewellers ripping a tray filled with jewellery off the display table.
A few days later, robbers held up staff at Markhams, stole their cellphones, tied them up and locked them in the store room.
Earlier this month, three staff members from Steers and Debonairs Pizza were robbed at gunpoint on their way to a storeroom via a back passage.
Two men followed, robbing them of R3 000 and two cellphones.
However Marcus is adamant that the mall has sufficient security and works closely with the police, the Community Policing Forum and an armed response company.
botho.molosankwe@inl.co.za
karishma.dipa@inl.co.za
The Star