- IPID is probing an attempted murder case in Pretoria.
- This, after two women were wounded when officers shot at a minibus while following up on a robbery tip-off.
- The women were taken to Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital.
Two female passengers were injured on Wednesday when Pretoria police officers threw a stun grenade and shot at a taxi while following up on a robbery tip-off.
The Independent Police Investigative Directive (IPID) is investigating a case of attempted murder.
According to IPID national spokesperson Grace Langa, a woman who lives in Extension 6 in Soshanguve asked her neighbour, a taxi driver, to take her and her three-year-old child to Soshanguve Block BB clinic at about 23:30 because the child was ill.
The neighbour used his Toyota Quantum minibus to take them to the clinic. There were four occupants inside the vehicle: the driver, two females, one male and the three-year-old child.
While they were on the road, officers from the National Intervention Unit in Pretoria and the Soshanguve Tracing Unit received information that a White Toyota Quantum was involved in robberies in the area.
Police spotted the neighbour's minibus in Buitekant Street and tried to stop it, but he refused to stop and accelerated instead. This prompted police to throw a stun grenade at the vehicle.
"It is reported that the police were driving an unmarked vehicle and the taxi driver thought he was going to be hijacked. It is further reported that while the police were shooting at the driver of the taxi, they were at the same time showing a blue light after which the driver noticed and stopped..." IPID said in a statement.
Officers then discovered that the two women were injured.
Langa added:
The investigation continues.
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