Pretoria: An Indian businessman was shot dead at his home in South Africa in a robbery attempt on Tuesday. One of the attackers was also killed when the victim's brother opened fire in retaliation.
The incident occurred in the Indian suburb of Laudium, west of Pretoria. The victim, Yusuf Joosub, succumbed to a single shot in the stomach before an ambulance arrived.
The victim's elder brother Faizel Joosub, who rushed to his aid after hearing a gun shot, fired at the attacker. The robber, identified as Sandileli Lali, died on the spot.
"I kept blasting him until my pistol was empty," Faizel told the Afrikaans daily Beeld, describing how he fired away wildly after hearing a shot in the room where one of the robbers had taken his younger brother to look for money.
A second unidentified robber and Joosub's maid fled from the scene and are being looked for by the police. It is believed that the maid opened a steel burglar gate and back door to the Joosub residence, the paper said.
"I was in the living room and heard the maid come in through the back door," Faizel said. "The next moment there were two men next to me and one asked: 'Where is your brother?' I said he was in his room."
Johan Britz, station commander of the Laudium police station said Yusuf's life could have been saved if the paramedics had arrived earlier. "(Yusuf) still got up, talked to his mother and sat down on a chair," he said.