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Durban - A man trying to evade the police after a shooting and high-speed chase that rocked a Durban suburb, had hidden behind the shelves of a surf shop for nearly 15 minutes before being discovered by the keen nose of a police dog.
Police and suspected armed robbers exchanged gunfire during a car chase that wove through Morningside in Durban on Tuesday afternoon.
The pursuit and dramatic gun battle followed an intelligence-driven operation that saw officers thwarting a bank robbery.
The chase ended in the Rip Curl factory shop on Stamford Hill Road, after the two men had tried to pose as customers before making their last stand.
Shop attendant Sipho Zondi said the two men had entered the store and had seemed sweaty and out of breath.
"They came inside and one stood and looked at clothes while the other moved to the back of the shop. They looked tired as if they had been running. I walked over to the one at the door and was offering to help him. That was when the second man came and said to him that the police were outside," he said.
Zondi said he watched as the two moved to the back of the shop, with one of the alleged gunmen hiding behind a shelf full of towels.
"When the police came inside, the gunshots started and I was just lying on the floor by the door with my hands up. They were pointing the gun at me because they thought I was a robber," he added.
One of the gunmen wounded by police was dragged outside, along with Zondi and a co-worker.
"When the manager came, they told the police who we were. The police were walking in and out looking everywhere and we told them that there was another guy inside. They took the dog inside and they found him," Zondi said.
"I was very scared while this was happening."
Two other men managed to escape on foot and they are sought by police.
