NATIONAL NEWS - “They were pointing a gun at us while they were running away, but we chased them, shouting ‘tsotsis’, until we caught them,” the brave car guards told the Kormorant this week.
The woman returned to her car at around 14:15 when she was overpowered by two armed men. They pulled her from the driver seat and tried to push her into the back. She screamed and the robbers hit her in the face.
Car guards, who were already suspicious of the two loitering men, came running to her assistance. When the robbers, who had already grabbed the woman’s handbag and cellphone, saw the car guards coming for them, they took off.
While calling for backup, the guards went after the robbers without thinking twice. “They ran when they saw us coming but we came from all sides.” Seven car guards and two security guards chased the fleeing robbers and managed to catch one in the parking area. The other fled into the bushes opposite Village Mall and the guards followed, nabbing him as well.
The second robber had thrown his firearm into the bush before he was caught and a search was launched to find the weapon. A 9 mm pistol was later recovered from the bushes.
“From the mall’s security footage, it was evident that the two robbers arrived with a third suspect in a white BMW. The driver went into the mall for a while while the two robbers loitered in the parking lot, walking up and down.
"The driver left in the BMW and it was then that the two suspects tried to hijack the woman,” said Romano van der Spuy, chairman of the Hartbeespoort community policing forum.
