A 30-year-old Ministry of Culture employee was shot and killed by her estranged ex-boyfriend at her West Demerara home on Tuesday evening in a shocking act of domestic violence that has left the community in mourning.
The victim, Marissa Beete, was attacked by 47-year-old Ghalee Khan, who later attempted to take his own life by shooting himself in the head. He is currently hospitalised under police guard at the Georgetown Hospital following emergency surgery.
Police reports indicate that the two were in a relationship for just over a year, which ended recently following a disagreement. On the evening of the incident, Khan arrived uninvited at Beete’s residence, where she lived with her 62-year-old mother, Jennifer Vaughn. Vaughn told investigators that she warned her daughter not to open the door, but Beete insisted that Khan only wanted to talk.
Shortly after letting him inside, Vaughn stepped away to the back of the house. Moments later, she heard loud explosions. When she rushed back, she found her daughter bleeding on the ground, slumped over with a gunshot wound to the head. Khan was reportedly standing over her with a firearm.
Vaughn said she grabbed hold of Khan in a desperate attempt to stop him. He fired another shot, pushed her to the ground, and then turned the weapon on himself.
Beete was rushed to the West Demerara Hospital by neighbours and family, but was pronounced dead on arrival. Khan was taken to the same facility and later transferred to Georgetown for further treatment.
Police recovered Khan’s firearm at the scene, which had three live rounds. Investigators have since confirmed that Khan was deported from the United States in 2023 after serving four years for drug trafficking. He had fled to Guyana before surrendering to U.S. authorities in 2020. Upon his return, he resumed operations of his private security company, Integrated Security Service.
The police continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the killing.
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