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Security guard shot in hospital during gang violence

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Port Elizabeth – A hospital security guard is currently receiving treatment at the Mercantile Hospital in Port Elizabeth, which he was protecting, after being shot in the shoulder during a gang shooting in the area.

Port Elizabeth police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Alwyn Labans, said the shooting took place at around 20:45 on Friday night.

Labans said six men travelling in a white Isuzu bakkie stopped at a nearby Caltex garage after seeing a man believed to be a rival gang member. He said the men gave chase and opened fire.

“The man, aged 23, fled towards the hospital and sustained multiple gunshot wounds in the buttocks and upper legs,” he said.

Labans said the security guard, who was stationed at the entrance to the hospital, was hit in the shoulder during the incident.

Both the guard and the man who was shot sought refuge inside the hospital. The men who did the shooting then fled the scene in the bakkie.

Labans said police had determined that at least 26 shots had been fired.

He said the man who had been shot has subsequently been moved to a different hospital for further treatment.

He said no arrests had been made but police were following up on leads.

Labans said claims on social media that three armed men had been hiding out in the hospital were nonsense.

“After the shooting police cordoned off the hospital and searched the area for the suspects but there is nothing to indicate that any of the armed men ever entered the hospital,” he said.

He said the incident was part of ongoing gang related violence that has rocked the Northern Areas of Nelson Mandela Bay over the past few months.

In a separate incident, Labans said a man was shot in his arm in Helenvale later in the evening after being confronted by three men with firearms.

This shooting is also believed to be gang related.

Derrick Spies, News24 Correspondent

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.