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S’ Africa: Trigger-happy policemen filmed killing suspect

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Four South African police officers are now cooling their heels in detention and will tell authorities all they know about the shooting of a suspected thief.

The police officers have been arrested on murder charges after a video emerged allegedly showing them shooting dead a suspected robber.

The video appears to show the suspect drop his pistol and fall to the ground.

It then shows a policeman shooting him at close range, before a colleague runs over and kicks him.

In August eight policemen were convicted of murder after a bystander filmed them tying a taxi driver to the back of their van and driving away.

Both incidents happened near Johannesburg.

Read also: South Africa has the highest number of dollar millionaires in Africa

Police attention was brought to the most recent incident after South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper published the CCTV footage.

According to the Sunday Times, the suspect attempted to rob a hardware shop in Krugerdorp, west of Johannesburg on 19 October.

The newspaper says the police, acting on a tip-off, were waiting nearby and after the suspect left the shop he fired shots at the police van.

It quotes the spokesman for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, Robbie Raburabu, as saying the post mortem showed shots to the head, chest and arm.

Credit: BBC Africa

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