One skelm was shot dead and another injured while trying to evade police in a stolen vehicle.
When officers tried to pull the driver of the stolen Mazda 323 over, the occupants opened fire.
But the wakker cops didn’t stand back and shot right back at them, killing one suspect and injuring the other.
The drama started early on Tuesday morning in Bishop Lavis, says a police source.
According to the source, the suspects are known gangsters in the area.
He says two officers on patrol spotted the suspects in the car and ran the car’s registration number on their system, as the occupants were behaving suspiciously.
One of the skelms was shot by cops. Picture supplied
He says the car came up as stolen and the cops sprang into action, trying to get the driver to pull over.
However, the suspects, realising they were caught out, opened fire and fled and the cops gave chase.
“When the officers spotted them, they ran the plates on the car. The car came up as a stolen vehicle and the officers pursued the guys,” says the source.
“When the suspects were signalled to pull over, they turned around and shot at the officers through the windows of the car. That is when it became a chase,” he says.
According to witnesses, the cops tailed the white Mazda for quite some distance before the skelms crashed the car into a building on the corner of Allen and Sun roads.
The source says the officers found one of the men lying outside on the ground while the driver was slumped over the front passenger seat.
The suspects were both alive and taken to hospital where one later died.
The wounded driver slouching over the seat. Picture supplied
Neither one of the officers were injured during the incident.
Provincial police say the matter has been referred to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) for further investigation.
“We were notified of discharge of police firearms in the Bishop Lavis area yesterday morning,” confirms Ipid spokesman Sontaga Seisa.
“It is alleged that there was a shooting incident between the unknown male suspects/occupants who were in a vehicle and police officials.
“During the shooting, two male suspects were injured and taken to hospital where one died.