Mistaken identity: guard empties gun on cop
By Judy Damon

The up-market seaside suburb of Clifton in Cape Town was rocked by the sound of gunfire on Wednesday morning when a security guard and policeman emptied their guns on each other. Stationed at a Fourth Beach home, the guard from Maximum Security was awoken by a noise at 3am on Wednesday. Still in a daze and fearing that intruders had broken into the house, he opened fire. To his horror, the "intruder" returned his fire. And soon a barrage of bullets was flying around the room. The shooting only stopped when the guard and the "intruder" ran out of ammunition by which stage both had received gunshot wounds to their limbs.

Captain Jacques Wiese explained that the intruder was in fact policeman Arnold Wessels, who was doing his rounds with members of an armed response company, ADT Security. "Wessels was checking on the vacant holiday homes of out-of-towners when he spotted an open window at 48 Fourth Beach. "There had been a burglary there a few days before so he went to take a look." Wiese said an attempted murder docket had been opened as the guard apparently did not stop shooting when the policeman screamed "police, security". Whether the guard was trained and authorised to have a gun and whether he was supposed to have been inside the house was being investigated.

A spokesperson for Maximum Security said the incident was being investigated internally.

ADT Security was unable to comment.

Wessels, who sustained only flesh wounds, has been discharged, but the wounded guard is still being treated in hospital.