“I did what my mind told me to do and it worked that day,” Leo Prinsloo

Leo Prinsloo, the security escort who dodged a hail of bullets while he and Lloyd Mtombeni, his colleague, were escorting valuable assets in Pretoria said his cool response was based on preparedness and his instincts.

Speaking to eNCA, Leo Prinsloo said: “You sort of need to expect things like that to happen because it prepares your mind for what you need to do.

“When we train people we tell them to pre-visualise what they are going to do. It’s a mindset.

“That is what I did. I pre-visualised what I was going to do, and to the best of my ability I did what my mind told me to do. It worked out for me on that day,” he said.

Prinsloo is a former police special task force officer who teaches at a shooting academy based in Pretoria. He also offers training in “real-life firearm, defensive and offensive combat experience”.

His colleague in the security van, Mtombeni, told the broadcaster it was only his fourth day on the job, and the first time he had been shot at.

“It was my first time hearing shots from a vehicle coming at us,” he said of his baptism by fire.

The incident was caught on dashboard video.

Both men are wearing bulletproof vests. Several loud bangs signal they are under attack and Prinsloo, the driver, displays nerves of steel as he takes evasive action.

It is believed they were part of a team transporting cellphones.

The would-be robbers fled after the foiled attack.

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