Two cops die in dramatic shootings

A police reservist and a suspect died, and an officer was shot and killed, in two separate incidents in Johannesburg yesterday.

16 June 2011 | MUSA MOHAMED, STEVEN TAU, EMMAH NGOMANE and SAPA


JOHANNESBURG - A police reservist and a suspect died, and an officer was shot and killed, in two separate incidents in Johannesburg yesterday.

In Northcliff a dramatic shootout ensued between police and five suspects.

A 61-year-old reservist, whose name had not been released, was killed in the shootout, while the suspect shot himself in the head after police cornered him in a house.

According to provincial police spokesman Lungelo Dlamini, Sophia- town officers were on patrol when they stopped a suspicious-looking Mercedes-Benz with five occupants.

“They sped off but crashed the car and they ran. Some ran into the houses and into the primary school nearby in hot pursuit by the officers,” said Dlamini. “At one house, a police reservist who had joined the chase was involved in a shootout with a suspect who had run into a Wendy house. Both died.”

He confirmed that another officer had been wounded but was in a stable condition in hospital.

A witness, Floris Esterhuizen, said that it had been like a “Wild West show”. He had heard shots from the back of his property, and then the domestic worker next door screaming “Help, help help”.

“They were trying to break in to get away from the police. She phoned me and I told her to lie down. I grabbed my own firearm and locked myself inside the house,” he said.

Dlamini said the four suspects, now under arrest, faced several charges including attempted murder.

In an earlier incident yesterday, Warrant Officer Humbulani Mthego, 47, died at his home in Alexandra after he was shot with his service pistol by his 26-year-old son early yesterday. The pair had reportedly been quarreling when the son pulled out a pistol and shot his father dead.

The son had handed himself over to police.

– musam@citizen.co.za

Comments by Sonny

He died for a CAUSE!


Rest in Peace Mark

Load, lock and come to standby…..
Ready, GO!

Tap-tap tap-tap tap-tap
Mag change…
Tap-tap tap-tap tap……
Two point Naught Five seconds…….

Make safe….
Hold for inspection.

REMEMBER targets don’t shoot back!
Especially with stolen SAPS pistols!

(c) Copyright 2011 William E. Cox

Past incidents


Hijackers missed, he didn't - cop shoots two

Police reservist who saved woman tells his dramatic story
He is my guardian angel, says the doctor who wrestled attacker

He had to make an instant life-and-death decision as he stared at the man and woman wrestling on the ground.

The man was holding a gun to the woman's neck, shouting he'd kill her.

Mark Ishlove decided. He pulled out his gun and shot the man.

"The man turned over onto his back (and) pointed the gun at me," Ishlove explained yesterday.

"I obviously had to do what I had to do." Ishlove shot him dead.

Then the police reservist captain, stationed at Fairlands, heard a shot on his left.

"I turned to my left and there was a guy shooting at me. He missed and I didn't. And that was it," he said.

The second gangster was also dead.

Ishlove told his dramatic story to John Robbie on Talk Radio 702 yesterday morning after he foiled the hijacking at the Fir Drive Centre in Northcliff, Joburg, on Wednesday afternoon.

Yesterday morning the victim, Elmarie Wypkema, met her saviour and gave him a hug, saying: "My guardian angel."

Wypkema, a gynaecologist at Welgehuiwel private hospital in Honeydew, did not look like someone who had probably been a second away from death.

She told The Star she had driven to the centre with a friend, Elsbe Annandale, and her daughter Daniella, in her Porsche, when they were approached by two armed men.

"I was going to give Daniella a lift home, when all of a sudden this man was by my side wearing gloves," she said.

She was composed and smiled broadly as she spoke about the incident. "I did everything wrong," she giggled.

Wypkema said she had been standing next to her car when the man came and shouted: "Give me your f*****g ring."

"I kicked him to get him away from me. It was just a reaction."

After that she wrestled with the man as he tried to pull off her diamond wedding ring.

"I told him: 'Wait, I'll take it off for you' but he just continued trying to take off my ring. As we wrestled I was trying to keep his gun away from me.

"He put the gun on my neck and shouted nervously: 'I'm going to f*****g kill you'. We pushed and shoved each other until I fell to the ground," she said.

"I was lying on the ground and he was sitting on top of me.

"I heard shots being fired and I thought I had been shot but I did not feel anything. After he was shot, he fell off me," she explained.

"Then I heard a voice shouting: 'Get away', then I got up and ran."

Wypkema believes she was lucky. "I felt that there were angels around and one of the them was Ishlove."

Wypkema said she had mixed feelings after the incident. "I felt very relieved emotionally when I saw that the suspects had been shot and were dead but I was very upset for a while because I think I could have been dead.

"It's not a nice thing to see bodies lying there - even though it's bad guys," she said.

Agnes Majola, who works at the centre, saw the two men walk up to the women - and probably saved Wypkema's life.

"I started to scream," said Majola.

This alerted the off-duty Ishlove, who was at an Italian restaurant about 20m away, and he went to the carpark to investigate.

In the meantime, the second would-be hijacker had climbed into Wypkema's Porsche and was trying to start the car.

Said Annandale: "I was behind a pillar, my daughter was hiding behind a car … (ejected) bullet shells were hitting my legs.

"The policeman came around the car and that was when he saw Elmarie wrestling with the hijacker."

During the interview yesterday, Robbie asked Ishlove: "How do you make the decision to shoot, when a guy has a gun at a woman's throat?"

Ishlove replied: "I've been involved in the police for 30 years. It all clicks in. In terms of the law of self-defence, you don't have to wait until you are attacked before defending yourself. If there's a threat of attack, you have the constitutional right to defend yourself.

"The way I train my people … the moment you see a gun in the hand of a perpetrator, you don't wait for the perpetrator to shoot you because he might kill you."

Robbie then asked: "Was it a clear shot?"

"Oh, ja," he said, "the thing is, I've been involved in this for a very long time … If we don't do what we have to do, they're gonna take us out.

"Those who have been in that situation will know what I'm talking about. Everything slows down. You go into a really clear mode, if I can put it that way, and you see exactly what you have to see.

"It was very clear and I had no choice. He was a very clear target, if I can use that terminology, and there was no chance of her being shot, otherwise I would not have shot," he said.

Ishlove said the victim was traumatised "but she handled it quite well. She was a bit bruised in the struggle.

"Had the guy not wanted to go for the ring on her finger, they probably would have got away.

"But he took time to get the ring on her finger, as I found out afterwards, he couldn't get it off and she struggled with him."

Ishlove said he was going to go for counselling yesterday.

The men's modus operandi was unusual, said police spokesperson Superintendent Lungelo Dlamini.

"Usually hijackers don't target such luxury vehicles … normally they prefer BMWs and VW Golfs.

"We will investigate to see if they have been involved in any other crimes."

Two 9mm pistols were recovered.

By Solly Maphumulo & Shaun Smillie The Star 30/11/07e1

Click here to respond to this article - Your responses will get vetted and printed on "Have your Say"