'Harmless boy' shot dead after robbery

The stepmother of a 24-year-old Cape Town man who was killed by a policeman says her family is "still in shock".

Darren Maggott was shot dead yesterday by a flying squad member while he was being hunted as a suspect in a robbery at a Stellenberg superette the previous day. In that incident, a man in a balaclava and hoodie stole cash and fled in a white car.

According to Yolandi Maggott, Darren - who lived with his grandparents in Durbanville - went to see detectives after they raided his house the previous night looking for him, but fled from Durbanville police station because "he was scared".

"The officers told us that he wasn't under arrest, and that he had panicked after voluntarily going to the police station," she said. "They said that there was no evidence that he was guilty and that they were only looking for him."

Darren was killed in his white Nissan, which was linked to the scene of the robbery. He was shot nine times, reportedly by a single officer.

Yolandi said police claimed he reached for one of two "BB guns" on the passenger seat, but she questioned the extent of the officer's response.

"Why did they have to shoot him nine times?" she asked. "He was a harmless boy."

Moses Dlamini, spokesman for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, said an investigation was under way.

No arrests have been made.

As Yolandi prepares for Darren's memorial service on Tuesday, she said "the family will miss him tremendously, he was their whole life".