One woman was shot dead and another wounded in Dunoon when police allegedly opened fire on a taxi carrying Nando’s staff home on Wednesday night.
Nando’s chief executive officer Geoff Whyte on Thursday expressed his shock at the shooting of two staff from the franchise’s Sunningdale store late Wednesday night. He said he was told they were shot by police.
Police spokeswoman Constable Noloyiso Rwexana on Thursday morning confirmed that cases of murder and attempted murder were under investigation but would give no further details, referring reporters to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid).
The woman who died, Phumeza Fudumele, was a mother of two children. It is understood her colleague was shot in the leg and is undergoing treatment in hospital.
Whyte said his company was investigating the shooting. “We are looking into it with urgency. The police told us officers opened fire on the taxi carrying the people home,” he said from London on Thursday morning.
“Apparently, the police believed the taxi was one that was involved in a robbery at an automatic teller machine earlier in the day. We have no confirmation except what the police told us, so we are investigating further,” Whyte said. “We are also doing what we can to support the families of the two victims and to get to the bottom of this incident.”
There were screams of dismay on Thursday morning from staff at Nando’s in Sunningdale when they heard the news that one of their colleagues had been shot dead and another wounded.
A Dunoon resident who lives opposite the scene of the shootingdid not want to be named but said he heard gun shots and thought it was gangsters shooting at each other.
He said when he and neighbours came out into the street later to see what had happened they were told it was police who had done the shooting. “I never heard any sirens, all I heard were gunshots. Police are supposed to give warnings before they shoot,” he said.
Another resident who lives nearby said after the gunshots died down she went outside and was told by somebody who had been in the vehicle that it was police who had shot at them. “By the time we got out there the police were still on the scene but we are not sure if it’s the same police who shot them,” she added.
A source close to the family of the dead woman said Fudumele had two children and was a very “caring person”.
Source : Independent