Two arrested for Nitrous armed response officer’s murder

Two men have been arrested in connection with the murder of Nitrous armed response officer  Roderick Erasmus. 

Erasmus, 49, was shot dead on December 27 during a business robbery at a shop in Greenbushes.

At the time of his death, police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said a 21-year-old man had been inside the shop when six armed men entered the shop in Greenbushes Road.

Nitrous Security responded when the shop teller pressed the panic button.

A customer, 50, who had been in the shop at the time, was robbed of his cellphone, wallet and his Nissan bakkie, in which the suspects fled.

“As the security guard entered, he grappled with the suspect who was closest to the door,” Naidu said.

“Erasmus shot at the suspects, injuring one of them. The suspects retaliated and fatally wounded Erasmus.”

The suspects also took cash, cigarettes as well as the security official’s firearm, she said.

The bakkie was later found abandoned. 

On Thursday, Naidu said police officers had received a tip-off about the suspects’ whereabouts at about 11pm on Wednesday.

She said two men had been arrested between 1am and 2am on Thursday.

 “A 33-year-old suspect was arrested at a house in Kwazakhele. The suspect was found with a gunshot wound to his lower abdomen,” Naidu said.

“Further information led police to a house in Joe Slovo in KwaDwesi, where  a 38-year-old suspect was arrested.

“A 9mm Vector firearm (serial number filed off) was confiscated.

“A Mazda bakkie suspected to have be used in the commission of the crimes was also seized.”

Naidu said the suspects would appear in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Monday.