A KZN policeman and an unknown man have been found dead in a car parked outside the uMlazi Secondary School.
|||Durban - A Sydenham policeman and an unknown man have been found dead in a car parked outside uMlazi Secondary School.
Pupils and teachers arriving at the school in uMlazi V-Section on Monday morning made the gruesome discovery and alerted police.
KZN police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker, said the policeman, 28, had been stationed at the Sydenham police station and lived in uMlazi.
Police did not release the name of the policeman. However a relative at the scene identified him as Constable Sizwe Mhlongo.
Peter Mhlongo said his cousin was last seen just before 9pm on Monday night.
Mhlongo said: “He lived with another relative in E-Section. He had been chatting on his phone while in bed. According to my cousin, Sizwe got up and left the house without saying anything.
He still had his sleeping shorts on.” Mhlongo said his cousin had been with the police for less than three years. He was not married but had two children.
Naicker said the identity of the second man was not yet known.
“Crime scene experts are still busy examining the car. At this stage we do not know what happened.”
He said nearby residents told police they had heard gunshots at about 9.30pm on Monday night. The car, a Toyota RunX, belonged to the policeman, Naicker said.
He said police had struggled to gain access into the car as all the doors had been locked.
A locksmith was called in to open the doors, Naicker said. A bullet hole in the front passenger-side window and another in the back window were clearly visible.
The driver was found slumped over the steering wheel. The passenger was lying between the passenger and driver’s seat. A firearm was found in the car, but it was unclear who it belonged to, Naicker said.
Sydenham police station officers were at the scene, shocked and sad at their colleague’s death.
The school is surrounded by informal dwellings and houses.
The school security guard said he had not heard any gunshots or seen anything suspicious.
Some bystanders said they had noticed the car parked outside the school from about 7pm. A resident said matric pupils had been at school on Monday night doing extra classes.
“They did not pay much attention to the car. Cars park at that spot all the time.”
Daily News