The incidents of shootout between the police and suspects took its toll in the Eastern Cape and all the incidents suspects lost their lives. Up to so far there are five incidents of such nature in the province particularly in the former Transkei region. In a recent incident which occurred in the Tombo Administrative Area in Port St Johns.
It was reported that on Wednesday, 14 January 2025, the members attached to Tactical Response Team swiftly followed up information and on arrival at Tombo area where the vehicle was alleged to be, they could not see the alleged vehicle. As they were joining the 61 towards Mthatha, the suspected vehicle drove past the police vehicle. It was reported that the members tried to stop the vehicle and all in vain, they then blocked it.
The police report revealed that the suspect closed his windows, jumped out of the vehicle and began shooting towards the police vehicle which had a driver as others were approaching the suspect’s vehicle. It is alleged that the members tried calling the suspect to stop with no success and they retaliated and the 42-year-old man was fatally wounded in the process.
The incident followed four other incidents of the same nature; the first one took place on R61 between Mthatha Airport and Cicirha, second one in R61 in Corana, Mthatha, third one in Ngcobo, fourth one in Tsolo as now was Tombo in Port St Johns.
