Mentally disturbed man shot in KZN

A mentally disturbed man took a firearm from a security guard and went on the rampage, pointing it at people shopping at a supermarket in Inanda outside Durban on Monday, KwaZulu-Natal police said.

He was later shot and injured by members of the specialised police unit, the Technical Response Team (TRT).

"The man allegedly stole a gun from a security guard at the supermarket. He threatened to shoot people shopping there. The TRT was called to intervene and they shot the man," said Superintendent Vincent Mdunge.

This comes after National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele said the highly trained technical response team was not trained to negotiate with criminals but to combat crime.

He was speaking at the launch of a festive season crime fighting campaign last Tuesday. At the time, Cele said the team was not given rubber bullets and was not going to fire warning shots.

Netcare 911's Jeff Wicks said the man was shot three times, twice in the face and once in the chest, and he was taken to hospital in a critical condition. - Sapa