Robbery: Store guard shot dead, owner injured in Pindi
Witnesses say there were four robbers in all; police sketchy on details.
RAWALPINDI:
A security guard at a superstore near Adiala Road was shot dead and the shop owner critically injured on Thursday evening when they resisted a robbery.
The four robbers could not take away the cash but took the life of Muhammad Safdar, a guard at the general store situated at Caltex Road near Khuwaja Corporation on Adiala Road. The four suspects also took Safdar’s gun as they escaped from the scene, said a witness.
Nearby shopkeepers shifted shop owner Tahir Mehmood to the District Headquarter (DHQ) Hospital in Rawalpindi.
The police said the robbers were carrying pistols and were stopped by the guard as they tried to enter the store. The robbers shot Safdar at close range and then Mehmood, who had come from the shop’s counter after hearing the noise.
A witness present in a nearby shop said one of the robbers snatched the gun from the guard and shot him multiple times with the same gun.
“The guard died immediately,” he said. He disputed police’s version that Mehmood had come from the counter, saying that the robbers shot him while he was at the counter.
Morgah Police Station House Officer Abdul Sattar Khan said he did not know the details of the incident, saying that both Safdar and Mehmood had been taken to the hospital before the police came.
Shopkeepers in the area demanded that the police arrest the robbers and provide them with security.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 7th, 2012.
A security guard at a superstore near Adiala Road was shot dead and the shop owner critically injured on Thursday evening when they resisted a robbery.
The four robbers could not take away the cash but took the life of Muhammad Safdar, a guard at the general store situated at Caltex Road near Khuwaja Corporation on Adiala Road. The four suspects also took Safdar’s gun as they escaped from the scene, said a witness.
Nearby shopkeepers shifted shop owner Tahir Mehmood to the District Headquarter (DHQ) Hospital in Rawalpindi.
The police said the robbers were carrying pistols and were stopped by the guard as they tried to enter the store. The robbers shot Safdar at close range and then Mehmood, who had come from the shop’s counter after hearing the noise.
A witness present in a nearby shop said one of the robbers snatched the gun from the guard and shot him multiple times with the same gun.
“The guard died immediately,” he said. He disputed police’s version that Mehmood had come from the counter, saying that the robbers shot him while he was at the counter.
Morgah Police Station House Officer Abdul Sattar Khan said he did not know the details of the incident, saying that both Safdar and Mehmood had been taken to the hospital before the police came.
Shopkeepers in the area demanded that the police arrest the robbers and provide them with security.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 7th, 2012.