- An off-duty policeman died after he was wounded in a shootout with his colleagues.
- It is alleged that he stole bricks from a construction site in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.
- He allegedly used his service pistol in the shootout.
An off-duty police officer was shot in the stomach in a shootout with his colleagues on Monday morning after he was allegedly caught stealing bricks from a Khayelitsha construction site in Cape Town.
The officer, believed to be a sergeant attached to the Khayelitsha tactical response team, died in hospital.
It is understood that he used his service pistol in the shootout.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said Harare officers were on patrol when they came across someone loading bricks onto a light delivery vehicle at a construction site in the early hours of the morning.
"As they approached the vehicle, four suspects fled. Police managed to arrest two suspects, assisted by security guards who were on site," she said.
"As they were busy loading the arrested suspects into the police van, police came under fire. They returned fire. The gunman was hit."
Eastern Cape SAPS say an investigation has been ordered after a video surfaced on social media showing a confrontation between two women and the Motherwell police. | @CannyMaphanga https://t.co/Yz5NPMqenh
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The vehicle which the building material was loaded onto also belonged to him, according to police.
"Further investigations led the police to the home of the deceased where a generator stolen in a business robbery in the area was found. It was also discovered that the firearm used by the deceased to fire shots at the police was a service pistol registered in his name," Potelwa added.
Acting provincial police commissioner Major General Thembisile Patekile decried the involvement of police officials in crime and vowed to "root out bad apples within Western Cape SAPS".
"Not only do they tarnish the name of the SAPS but their actions strain relations between police and communities," he said.