Gorilla Grabs Man Fleeing From Police Angry Animal, Suspect, Officers Injured When Melee Breaks Out

A suspect running from police jumped into the gorilla enclosure at the Johannesburg Zoo on Friday - and into the arms of an angry 260-pound gorilla.

By the end of the ensuing tumult, Max the gorilla had been shot by the suspect, the suspect had been shot by police, and Max had attacked the suspect and two police officers.

Max and the police officers escaped serious injury. The 25-year-old suspect was in stable condition at an area hospital.

Sgt. Percy Alberts, who twisted his ankle during the tumult, said the 26-year-old lowland gorilla was “quite angry.”

“With all this going on, you couldn’t get close to him,” zoo spokeswoman Jacqui Thompson said, explaining why Max was eventually knocked out with a tranquilizer dart.

“He was defending his territory and his female.”

The confrontation started when police went to a house near the zoo Friday morning, hunting for a suspicious-looking man who had been seen in the garage.

When confronted, the man pulled out a pistol and ran into the zoo, where he jumped into the gorilla enclosure, an open-air, brick-walled pen with trees, a pond and a swinging tire.

Max, instinctively moving to protect his mate, Lisa, grabbed the man, who shot the gorilla twice with a .38-caliber pistol.

Police said the man then pointed the gun at them - so they shot him in the hip, severing an artery. The wounded Max then attacked the police, biting two of the officers.

Max was treated at the zoo infirmary, where a bullet fragment was removed from his jaw.

The suspect was hospitalized in stable condition, and police spokesman Mark Reynolds said he likely would face a variety of charges.

Max, purchased from a German animal dealer, has lived at the zoo for more than two decades.