News24.com | Cable thieves shoot at cops, wound one after being caught red-handed

Suspected cable thieves have shot a police officer.

• A Free State police officer has been shot by suspected cable thieves.
• Police had responded to a tip-off that led them a group of men who were pulling out cables from an unoccupied block of flats.
• The injured officer was rushed to hospital.

A Free State police officer has been shot and injured while attending to a complaint of cable theft in Bloemfontein.

The officer was shot at the scene of the cable theft, at a block of flats on Maphisa Road, Phahameng in the area known as Silver City, said police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Thabo Covane.

"Members from the Bloemfontein Flying Squad and Mangaung Community Service Centre received information that there were a number of people busy pulling out cables at the unoccupied buildings. When the police vehicles arrived, a group of about seven males opened fire at the police and a bullet hit the 39-year-old sergeant in the right upper arm," said Covane.

"The suspects then started running in different directions. The injured police officer was rushed to the local hospital where he received treatment."

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Police are investigating a case of attempted murder.

Anyone with information on the incident is urged to contact Captain Tsietsi Mapuru at 082 5277 375.

Meanwhile, in Mpumalanga, a 30-year-old suspected police killer was arrested in Evander by the Hawks.

READ | Cable thief gets 15-year sentence after shooting security guard five times

He is believed to be behind the murder of a police officer who was shot while entering his home in February last year.

"More arrests are expected. The suspect will appear in the Piet Retief Magistrate's Court soon," said Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale.

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