Top task team probe CTN station attack
A top national task team, investigation the shooting at Cape Town station, is getting close to identifying the gunman.
|||Cape Town - A high-level national task team is getting close to identifying the gunman at the centre of the mysterious shooting this week at Cape Town station, sources say.
The team has been set up to probe the incident, despite the Hawks insisting the incident was just a robbery gone wrong.
On Friday Hawks spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi said investigations into the shooting were continuing. “There’s a multi-disciplinary task team that... is looking into this case. We are in the process of identifying the suspect,” he said.
“Preliminary investigations have ruled out any terror activity. ”
However, State Security Agency spokesman Brian Dube confirmed it was part of the investigation team.
According to the State Security Agency website, it is mandated “to provide the government with intelligence on domestic and foreign threats, or potential threats to national stability”. The site lists examples of threats as terrorism and sabotage.
The shooting happened shortly before noon on Tuesday and involved two men dressed in traditional Muslim women’s clothing.
Both wore boots and latex gloves, while balaclavas covered their faces.
Their behaviour appeared to be suspicious and when security guards approached them one ran away. The second, who was eventually cornered, fired several shots before turning his gun on himself. He died on the scene.
CCTV cameras captured the men’s movements in the streets before the shooting.
The route the first man took as he fled may also have been recorded.
Police officers are now analysing the video footage.
In a six-second video clip released to the media, the two men can be seen crossing Heerengracht street near the station at 11.39am on Tuesday.
The rest of the video footage is with police.
This week acting provincial police commissioner Thembisile Patekile said footage would help with the investigation. Officers had not yet established the motive behind the shooting.
Earlier this week a daily tabloid reported that the shooting and suicide may have been the result of a jewellery store robbery that went wrong.
But police have no record of a robbery or attempted robbery in the city centre early on Tuesday.
This week police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk remained tightlipped about the investigation. He would not say whether the dead man had been identified, saying only that the investigation was continuing.
Saturday Argus
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