Shocking dashcam footage filmed in South Africa shows the moment two men in a cash-in-transit van were targeted by gunmen in an armed robbery attempt.
Driver Leo Prinsloo and his partner, Lloyd Mtombeni, were just trying to do their jobs when their armed van was suddenly hit with a flurry of gunfire in Pretoria.
Dashcam footage caught the sound of gunshots striking the metal before one window smashed under the pressure of a bullet, quickly alerting those in the van to the fact they were in trouble.
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Bullets continued to rain down on the van as Prinsloo executed some incredible driving skills, and navigated the van as far as possible from the shooter.
A former police sniper and 12-year veteran of the elite South African Police Service Special Task Force, Prinsloo hardly looked stressed as he led the high-speed chase.
Mtombeni didn't quite have as much experience, given it was only his fourth day on the job, and he gripped his gun in the passenger seat, while Prinsloo put his foot down.
The pair were escorting around $90,000 worth of mobile phones at the time.
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Footage of their escape quickly went viral after it was filmed in 2021, with internet users praising Pinsloo for his seemingly cool, calm response to the situation.
"This driver is stone cold," one Reddit user wrote.
After the encounter, both Prinsloo and Mtombeni spoke to news channel eNCA about the incident.
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"There's nothing that really can prepare you 100 percent for a situation like that, Prinsloo said.
"The first time I knew they were there was when the gunshots went off. Instinct kicks in – when we train people we usually tell them to pre-visualise what they're going to do. It's a mindset, and that's pretty much what happened.
"I pre-visualised what I was going to do, and to the best of my ability I did what my mind told me to do and it worked out for me on that day."
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A South African Police spokesperson said after the incident that the suspects had 'fired several shots' in an attempt to stop the car.
"The driver of the CIT vehicle managed to evade the robbers for a while but later stopped in wait for the robbers. The robbers fled without taking any money," they added.
Though many people praised Prinsloo for his reaction, Deon Coetzee, managing director of Prinsloo's employer Fortis Pro Active Defence Solutions, revealed the driver had received death threats following the media attention.
As a result, the driver was assigned a protective security detail to keep himself and his family safe.
Topics: World News, Viral, Crime
Emily Brown