SAPS have made a breakthrough in the tragic killing of Kaizer Chiefs defender Luke Fleurs last week, announced the men in blue on Wednesday morning. According to a statement from Gauteng SAPS spokesperson Colonel Mavela Masondo, six suspects are behind bars for killing the Chiefs defender, Fleurs.
Fleurs was killed in a hijacking on Wednesday last week in Johannesburg when the robbers sped off with his VW Golf 8 GTI at a petrol station. According to the statement from SAPS, the six suspects were arrested in Soweto in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Police Arrest Chiefs Defender’s Killers
As also reported by Gauteng News, the 24-year-old Chiefs defender was fatally shot in a botched hijacking in Honeydew, Johannesburg on Wednesday, April 3. A statement from the police, at the time, indicated that the former SuperSport United defender, Fleurs was driving a red VW Golf 8 GTI into the petrol station on 14th Avenue.
“While waiting to be served by the petrol attendant, he was confronted by two armed males who came driving a white BMW 1 series,” Masondo said. “The suspects pointed him with a firearm and took him out of his vehicle, then shot him once on the upper body. One suspect drove off with the victim’s car, followed by his accomplice.”
As things stand, the information suggests that Fleurs died on arrival at a medical facility after he was shot at a petrol station. Following the murder, the Gauteng police commissioner Lieutenant General Tommy Mthombeni appointed a team to trace and arrest the suspects and Masondo also said Fleurs’ vehicle, which was already stripped, was recovered on Monday.
Fleurs: Six Suspects Part of a Syndicate
In addition, Masondo said the six suspects were traced and arrested in Slovoville, Soweto, in the early hours of Wednesday morning. “Police believe that the suspects are part of a syndicate that is responsible for car hijacking in Gauteng, and the search for more suspects is continuing,” he added.
The six suspects are expected to make their first appearance in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on Friday and they face charges of murder and hijacking. In a separate report by Sunday World, Fleurs fought the hijackers before shooting him dead and the source revealed that the suspects were driving in a white BMW 1 Series.
“They [four people in BMW] first drove past the petrol station but drove back into the station and parked next to his car,” said the source. “They went to the VW Golf and opened the rear doors. Two young boys in Fleurs’ car got out of the vehicle and ran towards the back of the petrol station to hide. They then pulled Fleurs out of his vehicle, and he ran towards the petrol station shop.”
“The two hijackers got into his car, and as they were about to drive off with Fleurs’ car, he ran towards it and fought those hijackers. He ran to his car, grabbed the door, and tried to remove the hijacker, who was in the driver’s seat. He fought them and tried to drive his car, almost knocking into the petrol station’s walls. During the scuffle, Fleurs yelled, ‘No malome, you cannot do this,’ to the hijacker in the driver’s seat. They overpowered him, and one of them shot him at close range in the left side of his chest.”
Related: Fleurs: Chiefs Boss In Disbelief Over Defender’s Death