Taxi rank shooting leaves four wounded

One suspect being beaten up while other residents come to his aid.

Four people were shot and wounded at Joe Slovo taxi rank on Tuesday morning in what authorities fear is taxi-related violence.

Details of the incident were sketchy, but City law enforcement spokesman Wayne Dyason, said the shooting followed another shooting at the rank on Saturday in which a man was shot and wounded.

Mr Dyason said officers arrested a suspect who had run and hid in a public toilet after the shooting.

“Officers scoured the toilets after arresting him and 21 rounds of ammunition were recovered in the toilet drain.

“At the police station, it was discovered he had a previous case of theft against him and was wanted in Beaufort West. The firearm was, however, not recovered,” he said.

When Tabletalk arrived on the scene, there was a lot of commotion with taxi drivers and some residents chasing a man they believed to be responsible for the shooting onto a MyCiTi bus.

They pulled the man out of the bus and started beating him up, shouting at him to hand over the gun.

Other residents and some taxi bosses came to the man’s aid, saying he was not who they were looking for.

Many Joe Slovo residents had, by then, come out of their homes to see what was happening.

Others said they had seen a man run into the MyCiTi station toilet stall to escape the mob.

An hour later, some 20 law enforcement and SAPS vehicles were on the scene.

Milnerton police spokesman Captain Nopaya Madyibi said a case of attempted murder had been opened, but despite Mr Dyason’s assertions that law enforcement officers had handed a suspect over to the Milnerton police, Captain Madyibi was unable to confirm that at the time this edition went to print, and said police had made no arrests.

“It is alleged that two males in Joe Slovo were inside a Quantum when the male suspect aged between 25 and 30 approached and asked them to remove the vehicle as it is blocking the way. They argued and it is further alleged that the suspect went back to his car and came back and fired shots.”