Officer Sonica Esmeralda Smith was shot and killed while on duty on the R75 near Kwadwesi on Wednesday last week. She was with two of her colleagues (a male and a female) doing stop and check on vehicles, when four armed men ambushed them.
They first disarmed the male officer, before fatally shooting Officer Smith and taking her firearm as well. The two officers she was with, escaped unharmed. The incident described by MEC Nqatha as a violent attack on the state itself, also received wide condemnation across the board.