The greater Milnerton area has been rocked by at least five armed robberies in the space of a month.
The latest, at a grocery store last Friday morning, led to a shootout with police, a high-speed chase and 10 arrests.
The robbers took cash and cigarettes.
Police intercepted the robbers as they tried to flee the Shoprite Usave, in Koeberg Road, Brooklyn, in a Toyota Prado and a white Toyota Corolla, according to Milnerton SAPS spokeswoman Captain Nopaya Madyibi. Neither cars had licence plates.
The Prado disappeared in traffic, but police officers pursued the Corolla to Tygerhof.
According to the Daily Voice, an onlooker said a woman walking in Iona Street in Tygerhof was hit by a stray bullet in the leg as the robbers and the police exchanged gunfire.
“During an exchange of gunfire between the four suspects in the Corolla and the police, three suspects were wounded.
“All four suspects, aged between 25 and 35 were arrested, while their accomplices in the Prado managed to evade arrest,” Captain Madyibi said. The three wounded suspects were admitted to hospital under police guard and are set to appear in court once discharged.
Police seized four guns, including three 9mm pistols and a .38 revolver.
A fifth suspect was arrested on the same day near the crime scene and a sixth at his home in Milnerton on Saturday.
Police arrested four more suspects on Sunday night, bringing the total to 10, according to provincial police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel André Traut.
At the end of October, two armed men posing as delivery men held up staff at the Hillsong Church in Century City(“Hillsong Church robbed,” Tabletalk, October 31).
On Sunday November 11, four men robbed a convenience store in Merlot Road, Table View (“Merlot Road shop robbery,” Tabletalk, November 14).
On the same day, two men robbed a man sitting in his car outside his house in Dunoon. The car was later found abandoned in Potsdam.
On Friday November 16, four armed robbers hit a liquor store in Turf Club Road, Milnerton, taking liquor, cash and cigarettes (“Man arrested for fraud at eatery,” Tabletalk, November 28).
Table View Community Police Forum chairman David Harris said the robbery spree was worrying and could be blamed, at least partly, on under-resourced police stations.
“It is a nightmare, and that is why we are being hit left, right and centre. We as the CPF have been hammering the top structures of the police for resources,” he said.
Mr Harris said he suspected national government was ignoring Table View’s plea for resources because the area had strong community involvement in fighting crime.
“There is also this myth about Table View being a ‘white suburb’ when, in fact, we are a very diverse community and we need assistance,” he said.
Table View SAPS spokeswoman Captain Adriana Chandler said there had been no increase in robberies in Table View, but she cautioned members of the public caught up in a robbery not to confront the robbers.
