An 80-year-old former police officer is one of two people killed along with several others wounded in a bloody robbery that played out at a pension pay-out facility in the sleepy Free State town of Marquard.
Free State police spokesperson, Thandi Mbambo, says six armed suspects accosted a group of Sassa personnel around 8.30 on Thursday morning after a cash-in-transit vehicle had dropped off cash containers at the facility, which is right across the road from the local police station.
Its believed the suspects had been following the cash-in-transit vehicle in a white GTI golf prior to the incident.
Police attended to the robbery after hearing screams at the closely located facility. It is then that a shoot-out between police and the suspects ensued.
In the midst of the chaos, the four remaining suspects took an 80-year-old man hostage. They later shot and killed him and fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of money in the deceased’s vehicle. Mbambo says it is believed some of them could have also been injured in the exchange of fire.
A security guard has also been reportedly injured in the shoot-out. Police indicate this person has been taken to a local hospital for medical treatment.
An R5 rifle and two pistols were found at the scene and confiscated. No police officers on duty were injured during the shooting.
The four suspects are still at large and a manhunt is currently underway.
