Guard killed in poker room robbery
A security guard was stabbed and killed when an unidentified man robbed a China Town poker establishment and took off with $7,000 in cash on Sunday morning.
The victim, a 38-year-old Chinese man, died of several stab wounds and loss of blood.
Police said no one witnessed the crime, but a surveillance camera took photos of the single robber.
According to Department of Public Safety spokesman Eric David, the victim was alone at J&C Poker at the time of the robbery. No one was playing in the game room and the victim was acting both as cashier and security guard.
Footage of the crime showed that the suspect was a Chinese-Korean man standing about 5’6 to 5’8 tall. He was wearing a white hat, a white jacket, a gray polo shirt underneath the jacket, and gray pants with reflector on the seam.
Police found out about the incident after receiving information from a male 911 caller at 8:11am Sunday.
Responding investigators found the victim’s motionless body and called for medics to bring the victim to the Commonwealth Health Center. A doctor pronounced the victim dead at 12:07pm the same day.
David said an autopsy will be conducted on the victim within the week.
He added that police will put out photographs of the suspect as soon as they get a clear image from the footage.
This is the first homicide in the CNMI for the year.