Four bodies of the robbers lay dead on the ground riddled with bullets following a dramatic shootout with the police on Thursday at the Stoneridge shopping centre in Edenvale, east of Johannesburg.
Earlier in the day, the police had followed up on a tip-off that a group of suspicious-looking men had been spotted roaming around the area.
Provincial police spokesperson Girly Mbele said the suspects were in the process of robbing Studio 88, one of the retail stores at the mall, when the men in blue pounced. On realisation that the police had arrived, the robbers started shooting.
“Our members shot back at them, and four suspects were fatally wounded. One of them was injured and the other one was arrested. All the goods that were stolen at Studio 88 were recovered in the vehicle used by the suspects,” said Mbele.
Mbele added that the police could not confirm if the getaway car had been stolen or not.
“We applaud our members because it really is a job well done. Now that we have arrested some, we hope that the robberies will decrease in this shopping centre.” she said, noting that the mall had been targeted on a number of occasions before.
In February, the police foiled a cash-in-transit robbery in Rosettenville, in the south of Johannesburg. Eight men who were part of a gang of 25 people, mainly made up of foreigners, were killed during a shootout with the police.
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