A cop is facing a murder charge after he allegedly shot and killed a man in Somerset West.
The incident happened on Boxing Day when the victim was walking on the R44 highway with three other people.
According to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid), the officer faces three charges.
The officers were reportedly in a police van when they spotted the four civilians. They stopped and searched them and then ordered them to go back home.
When the group refused, an officer allegedly fired a shot at one of the people, fatally wounding him.
Ipid spokesperson Phaladi Shuping confirms: “We have arrested a police officer on allegations of murder, possession of ammunition and assault.
“It is alleged that on 26 December 2023, at around 3am, four people, two males and two females, were walking in the R44 road, Somerset West when a police van stopped next to them and the police officers demanded to search.
“They complied and after they were searched, the police officers told them to go back home but they explained that they were going to buy electricity at the nearby Total petrol station.
“It is alleged that the officers did not want to listen to them and the four people were adamant that they have to buy electricity.
“One of the police officers allegedly took out his firearm and fired at them and one of them was fatally wounded.”
Shuping explains that the police officer who allegedly fired the shot was arrested by Ipid.
Shuping says: “He will appear in the local magistrate’s court, facing charges of murder, illegal possession of ammunition and assault.”
He is the fifth officer who has been arrested in the last week.
Kevin Tamboer and Stanton van Heerden were arrested by Ipid after a month-long investigation into a near fatal shooting.
The duo are accused of kidnapping and shooting an alleged thief and leaving him to die. They were released on R15 000 bail by the Atlantis Magistrate’s Court.
Police Minister Bheki Cele says 5 489 police officers have been arrested since 2019 for crimes including murder, stock theft and the “negligent loss of a firearm.