Unfortunately the gun was aimed at him

In 1952, after the arrest of Ctirad Mašín, friends from his resistance group decided to obtain money to set him free. Zbyněk Janata suggested to rob a car carrying salaries for the Kovolis factory in Hedvikov, where he worked. The men chose an appropriate spot for the attack, a bend in the road near the village of Žleby. Milan Paumer commented: “The first time we went there, the car with the money chose a different route for its return. That’s how two more attempts didn't work out.” The money was always transferred on a Friday, which was pay day. Paumer repeatedly took that day off at work, to the point where his colleagues began to get suspicious. He did not want to raise any more suspicion, so on August 2nd 1952 only Josef Mašín and Václav Švéda set out to Žleby. Paumer knows what happened that day from what Josef had told him. He stated that “there was some kind of a dispute --the cashier was a militia commander. Švéda and Pepa dressed in militia uniforms stopped the car and told the cashier to get out because they had to search the car. But the cashier didn't want to get out. He started to have questions, the boys wanted to pull him out of the car but he jumped out of it himself, ran around the car, stopped behind it next to a ditch, turned round, drew a gun and aimed it at Pepa. He was probably prepared to shoot, because when Pepa jumped at him, they fell in the ditch and the gun fired. Unfortunately, the gun was aimed at him...” According to Milan Paumer, the death of the cashier, Josef Rošický, was an unfortunate accident. Mašín and Švéda jumped into their car with their stolen nine hundred thousand crowns and drove to Olomouc.