Police are also getting ready to investigate the owner of the Wabinaha Nightclub in Hopkins. That's because they don't think that the proprietor took the necessary steps to hire security for the protection and safety of their patrons.
As viewers know, the police are usually hired to perform security at mass gatherings. However, multiple reliable reports to our newsroom are that the hired civilian security did not perform any checks for weapons on persons who entered the nightclub. And - all this on a long weekend which was also Hopkins Day - a two day slate of festivities.
The Commissioner said the owner broke key rules for public safety:
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"The proprietor of the establishment is being investigated for failure to provide adequate security. That should tell you that no police officer or officers were working at that establishment. From what we have been briefed, [it] was that they shouldn't have had some civilian as security. The police officers who were in the nightclub had just arrived here because, due to Hopkins Day activities, the OC was moving around the village, making sure that everything was going okay, and he made a stop at the nightclub at the same time the incident occurred. So, he and the other officers were not engaged in any special duty at the event. And certainly, yes, based on what we have seen on the video footage, there was no search being conducted on anyone who was entering the club by the security that the proprietors employed for that night."
The National Commission for Families and Children is also calling for police to investigate the nightclub owner precisely because a 15-year-old minor was found inside the establishment that is meant for adults only.
Their statement says, "The... (NCFC) has noticed with alarm the report that a 15-year-old minor was one of the injured [persons] at a nightclub shooting on Sunday morning in Hopkins Village. It is clear that a 15-year-old should not be in a bar or nightclub, which must be reserved for adults. We call on law enforcement to fully investigate the management of the nightclub and to let the law take its course for this grave infraction." End quote.
