In a dramatic turn of events, a police officer attached to Operational Response Services in KwaZulu-Natal turned himself in to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) on Friday, where he was formally charged with the murder of a fellow officer, Constable Sbonelo Ngidi, in a killing that has sent shockwaves through the province’s law enforcement community.
The incident, which took place last Friday night in Mariannhill, west of Durban, is understood to have begun with a mundane confrontation that escalated into a fatal shooting. According to preliminary reports, Constable Ngidi, who was off-duty at the time, encountered a vehicle blocking the road. The suspect, who was allegedly urinating at the scene, was asked by Ngidi to move his car so he could pass.
What happened next was anything but ordinary. Instead of complying, the suspect allegedly approached Ngidi’s vehicle and, without warning, opened fire, shooting the constable several times at close range.
Despite the desperate efforts of a passenger in Ngidi’s car, who rushed the wounded officer to a nearby hospital, the 29-year-old constable succumbed to multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body. The murder triggered an immediate and intensive manhunt led by the Hawks.
The suspect, whose identity is being withheld pending his court appearance, managed to evade initial capture on Thursday, heightening tensions around the case. His decision to surrender the following day brings a temporary close to the search but opens a deeper investigation into a killing that appears to be a stark case of a law enforcement insider allegedly turning against one of their own.
The accused, who is also a serving police officer, is scheduled to appear in court on Monday to face a charge of murder. The case has raised urgent questions about conduct and conflict within the police service, as colleagues and investigators grapple with the chilling details of an off-duty officer allegedly executed by a man sworn to uphold the same law.
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