The Surrey Estate Neighbourhood Watch says the community has been left traumatised after a fatal armed robbery turned shoot-out hit the area on Monday evening. Three of the gunmen succumbed to their gunshot wounds while a police officer, shop assistant and a bystander remain critical but in a stable condition.

An executive member of the neighbourhood watch, Mohamed Yaseen Regal says the community met on Tuesday after midday prayers, to discuss how they can improve the current level of safety and security in their area.

“I think the people are traumatised by the incident because of the deaths that occurred from the ordeal. I heard the shots from my home which is a whole kilometre away from where the incident took place,” Regal said.

In recent months, the area experienced three armed robberies. The shop that had been robbed on Monday, Primrose Markette had already been hit once before.

“One of our local butchers has been hit twice. So this is not unfamiliar to us but it has created a greater awareness from a security perspective,” Regal continued.

Developments around the incident revealed that undercover police from the Saps Flying Squad had been watching the suspects closely that fateful evening but when they left, they were confronted by the police officers and opened fire.

Regal says the neighbourhood watch is in need of the support of the community in finance or kind in order to improve their services.

“We are doing our utmost to make it secure for the community. We are trying to work closely with residents, although we offering them our services but at the end of the day, it is only through our collective efforts at creating a safer environment that we will be able to decrease the amount of criminal activity we see happening,” Regal concluded. VOC (Ra’eesah Isaacs)