Two robbers are dead and another is on the run, possibly wounded, after three men stormed into the Querencia Ministries church in Wierda Park, Centurion, during a service on Sunday and proceeded to rob the congregants at gunpoint.
The Pastor of the South African Church, Kobus Erasmus, was pistol-whipped by the thieves and suffered injuries to the head. Other congregants were also manhandled and hit with the butt of the gun as they were rustled by the assailants to hurry. According to local news, Ruan Heyns of Community Emergency Response Team told Netwerk24. A 15-year-old boy was also reportedly grazed by a bullet.
As they were making the rounds demanding cash and jewelry, two of the robbers were shot by congregant Pieter van der Westhuizen , a former police officer who was armed in Church. The bullets struck the armed robbers at center mass and they quickly took the room temperature challenge.
In a statement, police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said:
[We] seized one firearm allegedly used by the suspects and this will be subjected to ballistic testing for possible linkage to other crimes. A statement was obtained from the congregant who allegedly shot the suspects and this will be submitted for prosecutorial direction.
