Unknown persons have erased footage from security cameras that captured last month’s shooting at the Princess Hotel but police say they are working on other leads.
During the October 31 incident three casino guards were wounded. A police source told this newspaper that one of the guards, Dwayne Tuesday was shot in the right foot but was sent away after receiving medical attention at a private city hospital. The other two, Robin Bayley and Marlon Burnette were cuffed to the head and gun-butted respectively.
This newspaper was unable to contact the injured men.
The Casino Manager identified only as Phillip told Stabroek News last week that “we will not comment”. When asked why he could not, he replied that “that is the company’s policy”.
Stabroek News was also unable to get information from other senior officials of the hotel.
This newspaper has been reliably informed that a businessman was hosting a birthday party at the hotel for his 18-year-old daughter.
The source said that Trinidad’s Karma band was in attendance at the private event but there apparently was a lack of communication between the security at Princess Hotel and the businessman’s private security.
While the party was in full swing, sometime after midnight (on October 31), there were fireworks which according to the source was planned for the event.
The source said that the hotel’s security mistook the sound for squibs and held onto two young men at the party.
The two patrons as well as the birthday girl were reportedly “physically assaulted” during the melee.
This resulted in the three guards being beaten severely by the businessman’s security team and in the process one of the men was shot.
The party ended soon after, sometime after 2 am. The source could not say if it was a patron or a member of the private security team who fired the shot.
At some point, the footage was erased but according to the police source this newspaper spoke with investigators are working on other leads which they are confident will lead to an arrest.
To date the Guyana Police Force has not issued a press release on the incident.
