- A Cape Town paramedic was saved by a bulletproof vest after being shot on a call-out in Mitchells Plain.
- It was the second time he had come under attack after also surviving a stabbing on the job.
- The shooter did not even worry about the presence of a police escort as he walked up to the paramedic and pulled the trigger.
A Cape Town paramedic was shot while driving a patient to hospital in Mitchells Plain at 03:00 on Tuesday morning.
He survived because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
The paramedic has been attacked before when he survived being stabbed.
Paramedics and firefighters have to be escorted through "red zones" in some parts of Cape Town, which have been declared as highly dangerous for ambulances and firefighters.
According to police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut, the paramedic said while escorting a patient to hospital, he was at the corner of Imperial and Palestrina Roads when a man he did not know, who was about to cross the road, pulled out a firearm from his waist, pointed and fired a shot through the driver's side window.
The driver was hit, but was saved by the bulletproof vest.
"The vehicle was being escorted by [the SA Police Service] at the time of the incident," said Traut.
The shooter ran away and no one had been arrested by Tuesday afternoon.
Traut said anybody with information should contact Detective Sergeant Angus November of Mitchells Plain police on 021 370 1782.
It was not the first attack on the now deeply-traumatised paramedic.
He was stabbed in the back before - at the time, he was also wearing his bulletproof vest.
EMS spokesperson Deanna Bessick said the driver's colleague was also traumatised by the shooting, and both will be offered counselling.