An off-duty cop died after being shot on a construction site while allegedly stealing bricks.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said two more suspects were arrested at the construction site yesterday morning.
She said Harare SAPS were patrolling the area during the early hours of the morning when they came across a bakkie loading bricks at the site.
Officers approached the vehicle and four suspects fled the site.
Cops managed to arrest two suspects with the help of on-site security guards.
Potelwa said as officers were loading the suspects into the police van, they came under gunfire and returned fire. The gunman, shooting at them, was hit.
The suspect was taken to the hospital, where he died.
It was later discovered that the dead man was an off-duty police officer who was attached to the Khayelitsha Tactical Response Team (TRT).
At the home of the deceased cop, they found a stolen generator.
Potelwa said officers also discovered that the firearm used by the deceased officer to shoot at the police was the service pistol registered in his name. The bakkie also belonged to him.
Potelwa said IPID has been informed about the incident.
Acting police commissioner of the Western Cape Major-General Thembisile Patekile decried police officials involved in crime.
Patekile said not only do the officers tarnish the name of SAPS, but their actions strain the relations between the police and communities.
He vowed to “root out the bad apples”.