- call 911 service but was unsuccessful

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of 63-year-old security guard, Ahmad Salam, whose body was picked up outside the Multi Builders Inc. compound in the Eccles Industrial Site early yesterday morning.
Salam, of 20 BB Eccles, East Bank Demerara, was apparently seeking help from another security guard attached to the Multi Builders Inc, which is located not far from his place of work, when he collapsed.
He was left lying at the gate as the Multi Builders Inc. guard refused to open up, and it was not until the police arrived hours later that Salam was pronounced dead.
Orin Lewis, the Chief Security Officer of Multi Builders Inc, a subsidiary of the IPA Group of Companies told Kaieteur News that the security guard on duty at the location reported seeing Salam and another man approaching the compound at around 01:50 hours.
He said that the other man who appeared to be under the influence of alcohol, stopped before he reached the gate and lay on the road, while Salam proceeded to the gate.
Salam called out for the guard to open the gate, claiming that someone had threatened him.
However, for security reasons, the guard who was not familiar with Salam, did not open.
In fact, the guard took every precaution to protect the property he was being paid to secure.
“He told the man that he did not know him and he could not allow any unauthorized person into the compound at that time of the morning,” Lewis related.
According to Lewis, Salam then dropped himself in front of the gate and remained there despite being urged to remove.
Lewis said that when he was contacted, he tried to solicit the help of the police through their 911 service but was unsuccessful. He then tried 092 and was given a telephone number to contact the police at the Providence Police Station.
Again he tried unsuccessfully to get the police.
He was given another number for the police at Providence and this time a female Sergeant answered and said that she was alone at the station and did not have any patrol ranks or vehicle.
She however promised to make contact with a patrol from the city to respond to the request.
Eventually a patrol was sent to the area but instead of going to where Salam was lying, they first came upon the other man who had been with him earlier. Thinking that they had completed the task, the ranks took some information from the man and subsequently left the area.
“After a while and the police did not turn up at our location, I called them again and told them that the man was still lying in front of our compound,” Lewis said.
Hours passed and it was not until around 05:50 hours that a Detective along with other ranks visited the scene and found that Salam was already dead.
There found no marks of violence on Salam’s body, but the police have not yet ruled out foul play.
Salam’s immediate supervisor told this newspaper that the elderly man would normally go around to other guards in the industrial area and would keep their company throughout the night.
The supervisor said that yesterday morning when he arrived at the location Salam was guarding, he did not see him.
He said that he found it strange that Salam had left his pair of shoes behind. Salam only had on his socks when he collapsed.
The dead man’s son, Iqbal Salam, told this newspaper that his father was suffering from heart problems.
However, he is certain that had the other security guard offered him some assistance, he might have been able to save his life.
“He was no stranger, they had to know him,” Iqbal Salam said.
He indicated that his father had a cellular phone but this was not found on him when he was picked up by the police.
Investigators are awaiting the results of a post mortem examination to determine how to proceed with their investigations.