South African disarms/kills attacker; gets shot by 2nd assailant

[Tom Yum]

From bullshido.net

Cape Argus Newspaper online

Man shot trying to save his fiancée
December 8, 2003

By Staff Reporter

Blood gurgled from the mouth of martial arts expert Jaco Zwanepoel, 34, just hours after his girlfriend, Marietjie Brummer, 25, had agreed to marry him.

Zwanepoel was fatally wounded trying to save his new fiancée's life during an armed robbery at a Waterkloof Glen, Pretoria, fast food outlet on Saturday night.

The incident, the second violent attack in the area over the weekend, claimed Zwanepoel's life, and that of one of the robbers.

"He is a hero," exclaimed Eugene le Roux, director of Nando's SA. "We are all very upset by what happened but he died a hero's death.

"For too long have South Africans sat back and allowed themselves to become victims."

The attack happened at 8.20pm when two armed men entered the premises.

According to Le Roux, one of the men walked around to the back to the counter and started opening the till. The other stood near the door next to the table at which Zwanepoel and his fianceé were waiting for their meal.

"The man had a gun in his hand and kept on saying 'cellphone, cellphone' I did not know what he wanted but the gun looked plastic and I hid my phone behind my back," said the traumatised Brummer.

She described how, as she hid her phone, the attacker pointed the gun straight at her head.


This triggered Zwanepoel into action.

As a fifth-dan Ninjitsu instructor in Centurion, Zwanepoel was trained in removing weapons from armed attackers.

"At this stage we did not know there were two assailants. Jaco managed to remove the gun from the man and shot at him. It was only then, out of the corner of my eye, that I saw the second attacker shooting at us."

Police are not sure about the sequence of events but the attacker was shot in the head and Zwanepoel was shot through the neck and shoulder.

A distraught Brummer said: "As he turned around I saw two bullet holes in his shirt but he was not bleeding and appeared fine. He told me to go and phone the cops, which I did at the counter. When I returned he was lying on the ground bleeding from the lower back and mouth."

Zwanepoel was rushed to Pretoria East hospital where, hospital spokesman Corné Bekker said, he died at 9.57pm despite the efforts of four doctors.

Its believed Zwanepoel suffered internal haemorrhaging and bled to death.

The remaining attacker escaped without taking anything.

The couple was due to be married on October 23 next year

[kengar]

thanks for posting the article. many prayers need to be sent to the family.





Ken

[JaredExtreme]

If someone is pointing a gun at my head they can have my wallet, my watch, my phone etc etc, all that can be replaced whereas a human life cannot be.