A Phoenix family has been plunged into mourning after their husband and dad died in a hail of bullets following an attack by armed suspects while he was on duty in Zwelisha on Friday morning.
Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) received the initial call from the Dev Security Control Centre seeking assistance after receiving information of an officer under attack. The deceased response officer has been identified as Rishaad Baccus. RUSA head, Prem Balram, said: “Reaction officers and paramedics converged on the area and the RUSA Operations Centre received several calls from residents reporting a shooting in progress. The scene was located minutes later on the corner of Ugagane Close and Unganu Circle where the body of a 41-year-old response officer was found with multiple gunshot wounds to his body and head. His 9mm handgun was taken. His bulletproof vest was also penetrated by 9mm rounds. Several spent 9mm cartridges were found on scene.” “According to the tuck-shop owner, the response officer was attacked by three armed men who opened rapid fire on him. The officer was standing off to provide protection to the shop owners who were frequently robbed on Fridays during stock delivery. A white Isuzu bakkie that was delivering goods to the store was also shot. An undisclosed amount of cash was also stolen from the tuck-shop,” added Balram.
Dev Security boss, Shavin Gobind, said the death of Baccus is a huge loss to the company and the community. “Rishaad was a dedicated employee and an excellent response officer. He died protecting members of the community. It is heartbreaking that he lost his life in such a callous manner and we will work closely with police to ensure the perpetrators are brought to book. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Rishaad’s family during this difficult time. His colleagues have been hard hit by his killing and as a company we are offering counselling to them should they require it,” said Gobind. According to Balram, a second response officer, hailing from Phoenix, was shot dead in the KZN South Coast early last week. It is alleged the response officer was attending to a call-out when he was shot in the chest.
