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Durban - A hijacking suspect has been arrested after he was found injured in hospital having given a false name when he was admitted, the police said on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old man - who gave a false name when he was admitted to hospital - has been linked to several violent confrontations with police in the past week, including one in which an officer was seriously injured.
In a statement on Tuesday, police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala said the man and an accomplice had hijacked a Chatsworth woman on Thursday, August 25.
"They forced her to get out the car at gunpoint and drove off, firing three shots in the air."
Gwala said police then tracked the stolen Kia Rio to a home in Tafelkop, KwaNdengezi, the same evening.
"The suspects in the car opened fire on police and police returned fire. No one was hurt, but the suspects managed to flee in the car."
The following day, Greenwood Park police located the vehicle in Quarry Heights, Durban.
"A shootout ensued between the police and suspects and a 26-year-old police constable was shot in the right leg and abdomen," Gwala said.
Gwala said that by Tuesday morning, Scottburgh authorities had followed up on information which led them to the GJ Crookes Hospital in Scottburgh.
"They interviewed a patient with a gunshot wound to his chest and established that he was indeed the notorious suspect that police had been pursuing for the theft of the Kia and the subsequent shootings at police. He had been admitted to hospital under a false name."
Gwala did not say how he had sustained his gunshot wound.
