Shopping malls can be deadly

We watched a report on a local current affairs program called "Carte Blanche" on the weekend.  They had an item on the mindblowing incidence of armed robberies in shopping malls in South Africa.  This is frightening stuff and a very strong motivation to shop online as much as possible:

Ruda Landman (Carte Blanche presenter): “Shopping at your local mall used to be a pleasant way to spend your morning or a boring housekeeping chore, but lately it has become edged with danger. Armed gangs have hit on shopping malls every three days for the first six months of the year and that’s in Gauteng alone. The rest of the country is not that far behind.??

Vernon Tarr (Partner Broadacres Superspar): “My brother was confronted in the early hours of the morning and he was shot.??

Ruda: “Vernon, what happened???

Vernon: “Apparently three armed guys, [that] had about half an hour before the time taken the security guards to a secluded area, held them at gun point, unclothed them and their uniforms. So he was unaware of what was going on.??

Condolences are pouring in for this family business. Pat Tarr and her three sons have run the Superspar in Broadacres for four years.

Ruda: What does your mom say???

Vernon: “My mom is heartbroken. She is really struggling.??

A Pretoria supermarket, another armed robbery and another store manager shot dead.

Ruda: “What happened???

Armed robbery victim: “One guy came in with a rucksack. Next moment there were two guys at my back – one pointing a gun into my back, the other guy with a tyre leaver, and they asked me and said, “Robbery, robbery! Where is the cash?’ And as I was about to punch my code into the door, the guy inside – the other manager – pulls the door open and pushed me out the way. And the one guy pointed his gun at him and shot him in the chest.??

Armed robbery victim: “The guy was lying on the floor not moving. He had a bullet shot through his heart. Gruesome…??

Armed robbery victim: “They went back into the shop and broke some of the tills open, made the customers lie down, took their wallets, took their cell phones and they left the shop. I think there [was] maybe ten of them.??

Armed robbery victim: “You are in such shock you don’t know what is happening. It’s like it is not happening, it is not happening to you.??

Surely this can’t continue indefinitely?!  At the same time this is our scary reality at the moment and it has reached a point where you take a big risk going to a shopping mall here.