Murder/attempted suicide – Neighbours remember victim as quiet, reserved person

Residents of the tranquil West Bank Demerara community of Recht-Door-Zee are still processing the shocking murder of 30-year-old Marissa Beete, who was killed by her 47-year-old former partner Ghalee Khan on Tuesday evening. She had been employed at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and he was a security personnel attached to the Integrated Security Service.

When Guyana Times visited the community on Wednesday afternoon, locals remained in disbelief, and neighbours described Beete as a reserved young woman who had mostly kept to herself.
“I only knew her from seeing her around. She was very quiet. Her mother was often away, so it was just her at home. It’s sad something like this happened here. He didn’t have to kill her like that,” one neighbour shared.
Another resident, who was at home at the time and recalled hearing screams and seeing people rushing to the scene, detailed, “I was at home when it happened. Someone was shouting, ‘Murder!’ in the street, and everyone started gathering. I didn’t hear any shots, just screams, and then there were a lot of people outside. I went out and saw that they had the guy.”
“She was a nice girl. She didn’t deserve this. He didn’t have to shoot her, especially with her mother at home,” another neighbour added.
Though they were not together, Beete allowed Khan into her home after he had contacted her earlier that day and requested permission to come over so that they could “talk”. Marissa Beete was at home with her 62-year-old mother Jennifer Vaugh at the time, and despite her mom rebuking her for doing so, Beete opened the door and invited the suspect into the house at about 16:15h on Tuesday.
The shooting occurred between 18:15 and 19:00h, and after Beete had been shot, Khan turned the gun on himself and attempted suicide by shooting himself to the head. However, he was taken to the hospital and is still alive, but is in a serious condition following surgery. He is nursing a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Beete and Khan had shared a romantic relationship for the past two years, but the relationship had already come to an end at time of the shooting.
Beete’s mother has said she had got up and gone to the back of the house in order to give the suspect and her daughter privacy. Sometime after, she heard her daughter call out “Mommy!”, and that call was followed by a loud explosion.
She said she immediately rushed to the living room, where she saw her daughter Marissa in a slouched-over position on the ground, with what appeared to be blood coming from her head. At the time, the suspect was standing over the victim with what appeared to be a gun in his hand, and the woman said she ran and held on to the suspect, who fired another shot in an unknown direction.
She said the suspect pushed her to the floor and turned the gun on himself, shooting himself once to the head.
Public-spirited persons took both Marissa Beete and Ghalee Khan, who were both unconscious, to the West Demerara Regional Hospital, where Beete succumbed to her injuries.
Beete’s body, which had one bullet-like wound above her right eye, was later escorted to the Ezekiel Funeral Parlour to await a post-mortem examination.
At the scene, police recovered the firearm and three (3) live rounds of ammunition. The scene was checked for anything of evidential significance, and items were taken for forensic analysis. Several persons have been questioned as investigations continue.