About a dozen shots rang out just before 6 p.m. on Friday Nov. 3, at the Golden West Casino in South Bakersfield, California, according to a witness interviewed on KBAK Eyewitness News.
Witnesses say an angry patron shot, killed the security guard who wouldn’t let him in the casino. KCSO says the suspect is in custody. pic.twitter.com/xKxkIQaQwz
— Hanna Battah (@HannaBattah) November 4, 2017
A man identified in an eyewitness interview as ‘Doug,’ a regular at the Golden West Casino, said a black male got into an argument with a security guard when he was asked for ID. The man then pulled out a gun and shot the guard dead, wounding another. Security personnel returned fire but failed to bring down the shooter, who escaped from the scene of the incident.
When Kern County Sheriff’s Department deputies arrived on the scene, they found the security guard dead outside the casino entrance, said spokesman Lt. Ian Chandler. Police did not confirm that a second security guard had been wounded.
The police located a man with a gunshot wound at a nearby market and took him into custody. The department is treating the individual as a “person of interest in the shooting,” according to Chandler.
More than 100 people were inside the casino at the time of the shooting. None were shot, but some sustained injuries while running for cover.
“I saw chaos, straight chaos. It was people going everywhere, they just didn’t know what to do, people on the ground. Just chaos,” said the eyewitness Doug.
When asked if anything like this had happened before, Doug replied “10 years ago they came in with AK-47s.”
Police said the casino has been secured and there is no ongoing threat to the community.
