TZANEEN cops have launched a massive manhunt for a group of five men, who allegedly shot and injured a police sergeant on Tuesday.
It is alleged the men were wearing bullet proof vests when they robbed the officer of his service pistol and a cell phone.
The injured officer was on patrol duties in Tzaneen, together with his colleague when they decided to drive to a colleague's house to fetch a cell phone charger.
One of them went into the house and whilst inside, he allegedly heard a gunshot.
"When peeping through the window, he allegedly noticed four men wearing police bullet proof vests. The suspects then fled into the nearby bushes, leaving the injured member and the state vehicle behind," Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said.
Ngoepe said when the other cop finally got out of the house to investigate, he found his colleague injured and lying on the ground.
Meanwhile, investigations have revealed that the same suspects allegedly broke into a house at Medipark in Tzaneen about 30 minutes later.
They ordered a man, his wife and a child at gun point to lay on the floor before robbing them of a cell phone and a white Nissan Sentra.