Cop shot dead, 3 others, including a security guard, wounded in Tembisa shooting

  • A police officer was shot dead and three others, including a security guard, were wounded during a robbery at a filling station in Tembisa. 
  • Gauteng police said a gang of about 15 armed men robbed the store of an undisclosed amount of money and cigarettes.
  • In a separate incident in Vereeniging on Wednesday morning, three officers died after their vehicle was hit by a truck.

A police officer was gunned down and three others, including a security guard, were wounded during a robbery at a filling station in Tembisa, Johannesburg.

National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said the officers responded to a robbery in progress at a filling station in Andrew Mapheto Drive in the early hours of Thursday.

She added a gang of about 15 armed men had robbed the store of an undisclosed amount of money and cigarettes.

“As the group was about to leave, they noticed a group of police officers entering the filling station. They immediately opened fire on three members attached to the Tembisa South police station and a security guard.

“Three officers and a security guard sustained multiple gunshot wounds and were also disarmed off their service pistols,” Mathe said.

They were rushed to hospital, but one officer was declared dead, she added.

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The men fled the scene in a Toyota Quantum and Toyota Corolla Prestige.

National police commissioner General Fannie Masemola has directed provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela to mobilise maximum resources to track down the culprits.

“We are not going to allow criminals to run amok and do as they wish; we are coming for each one of them. We are closing the net on each person in this country who is found to be on the wrong side of the law,” Masemola said.

Three police officers died after their vehicle was

Three police officers died after their vehicle was hit by a truck in Vereeniging, Gauteng on Wednesday morning.
Supplied Supplied

In a separate incident in Vereeniging on Wednesday morning, three officers died after their vehicle was hit by a truck.

Mathe said the officers were conducting crime prevention patrols around 04:45 when a truck allegedly failed to stop at a four-way crossing.

The three officers were declared dead on the scene.

The driver of the truck has since been arrested.

A case of culpable homicide and reckless and negligent driving is being investigated.

They dead police officers were identified as:

  • Captain Shashape Theletsane, 58, with 34 years’ service.
  • Warrant Officer Aaron Mfazwe, 54, with 26 years’ service.
  • Constable Timothy Mbele, 45, with eight years’ service. Before that, he had been a police reservist for nine years.

In the 2021/22 financial year, 33 officers lost their lives in the line of duty.

Masemola sent his condolences to the three police officers’ families, friends, and colleagues.