Photo: Screenshot
Photo: Screenshot
When a group of men tried to execute a robbery at a mall in Durban on Monday morning, they probably weren’t expecting their target – a man depositing cash into an ATM – to respond with gunfire.
Dramatic footage has surfaced of the incident, in which two armed men can be seen fleeing the Musgrave Centre in Durban for their lives, with the target of their foiled robbery attempt firing at them.
Durban ATM robbery foiled
South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said that a case of armed robbery has been opened today at Berea police station for further investigation after the incident, which was captured on video from a nearby building.
Mbele said that the incident took place at around 11:00.
“The victims were at Clifton Place ATMs next to Musgrave Centre in the process of depositing cash into the ATMs situated outside the branch. One victim was accosted at gunpoint by two unknown men. They demanded cash that was being deposited into the ATM,” she said.
“Another victim who was also depositing cash in the other ATM was also held up and robbed of cash by the other men,” she said.
Victim returns fire at suspects
The suspects quickly realised that they had picked a fight with the wrong man though, with the first person they accosted drawing his firearm and firing. The suspects began to flee, climbing over the nearby fence in an attempt to get to their vehicle, and a shootout ensued.
“Suspects fired at customers at the three ATM sites,” said Mbele. “They fled into two separate vehicles with unknown registrations. These vehicles were parked outside the bank in Clifton Place.”
Mbele said that the suspects fled in “unknown directions” and were able to evade arrest, but said that no injuries were suffered despite stray bullets having penetrated close by premises housed inside Musgrave centre.
“Glass partitioning and a computer monitor was damaged. An undisclosed amount of cash was taken,” she said.
