Driving through town this morning, on our way to ogle a couple of old nudie cyclists taking it off for Global Warming, we found ourselves in the middle of one of Cape Town’s longest, most intense hostage dramas - ending in a run-for-your-life shootout.

We arrived just before 12 to find a good portion of Long Street cordoned off. Police and paramedics everywhere. Fire engines just arriving. Forensic teams, explosives experts and Olympic gold medal snipers on the scene. In the middle of the road, pacing furiously, was the man in the middle: the hostage negotiator. We were quickly informed by spectators that a gunman had taken four people hostage at around 10am and already shot and injured two bystanders.

Six and a half hours after we arrived, the negotiations ended. The task force had entered a second storey window by ladder and hurled stun grenades into the building. Outside, near where we had been crouching, Kasper tyres were screeching, officers were shouting “GO! GO! GO!” to other police and “GET DOWN! GET DOWN!” to everyone else - including us.

You’ll see from the video that we ran, fast! We hit the floor but kept the cameras rolling. Loud explosions, gunshots and people screaming at the top of their lungs, including a crying relative across the road. All of this in Long Street. LONG STREET. The same street we’ve been up and down a thousand times, rushing to the bank or a business meeting. But a very, very different street tonight.