The man who attacked a presidential guard and opened fire outside the gates of Guyana’s State House on Thursday morning has been identified as Nigerian Bethel Ikena Chinezie.
However, lawmen are still trying to determine the motive for his attack that led to the policeman identified as Telon Perreira nursing serious stab wounds, and one local report quoted a source in the Guyana Police Force (GPF) saying that a request has been dispatched to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) for more information on the Nigerian.
“The GPF has requested via INTERPOL a comprehensive background check on him; also, whether he has any criminal history or whether he is linked to any criminal group,” a senior police officer told Demerara Waves Online News.
Reports indicate that Chinezie last worked at a local cleaning company.
He remains hospitalized with serious injuries along with Perreira who he stabbed five times in the neck and body.
According to a statement from the GPF, Chinezie turned up at the southeastern guard hut at State House, President Irfaan Ali’s official residence, around 7:30 a.m. and confronted the security detail, telling them, “I want the President”.
He subsequently became agitated and pulled a knife from the waist of his pants, stabbing a policeman five times. Chinezie then grabbed the officer’s gun and discharged several rounds before he was shot when other presidential guards returned fire.
Both were taken to hospital where President Ali visited.
In a statement on the incident, the opposition A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) condemned “in the strongest possible terms, a resort to violence in any circumstances”.
It added that it welcomed the news that President Ali and his family are safe.
“We also take the opportunity to commend the presidential security guard for his courage and wish him a full and speedy recovery from his serious injuries,” the APNU+AFC statement concluded.
CMC/
