Cleric Could Be Armed and Dangerous, Police Caution
By David Kihara
Review-Journal [Las Vegas NV]
January 27, 2007
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2007/Jan-27-Sat-2007/news/12234503.html
he Metropolitan Police Department was searching late Friday for a priest at Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church who was wanted for questioning in connection with the beating of a woman on the church's grounds.
Police said they were searching for Georges Chaanine, who is in his early 50s.
The priest was considered a "person of interest" in the battery of a woman who worked with him at the church, Las Vegas police Capt. Gary Schofield said. Police said the priest was possibly armed and dangerous.
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| Las Vegas police armed with rifles patrol the grounds of Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church at Alta and Campbell drives on Friday night after a woman accused a priest of beating her at the church. Photo by K.M. Cannon |
The woman accused Chaanine of striking her inside one of the buildings at Our Lady of Las Vegas, on the 3000 block of Alta Drive, near Rancho Drive, police said.
"A woman had run outside of the church establishment here and claimed that she had been beaten," Schofield said.
A Web site for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Vegas listed Chaanine as an administrator at Our Lady of Las Vegas. The site also identified him as "George" Chaanine.
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| Las Vegas police close Alta and Campbell drives on Friday night as they search for a priest accused of beating a woman at Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church. Photo by K.M. Cannon |
Schofield said police responded to the church about 4:30 p.m., after a woman reported that she had been beaten. The woman was taken to University Medical Center's trauma unit. Her condition was not known Friday night, Schofield said.
Police declined to speculate about why the alleged battery took place and said the matter was under investigation.
Schofield said that he saw where the incident occurred and that it was a "very disturbing scene." When asked what was disturbing about it, he said it is unsettling any time police find a victim.
Police searched for Chaanine, who they believed remained on church grounds for a time following the incident.
Children were attending an after-school program at a facility next to the church when the incident occurred. Authorities placed that building in lockdown. Parents eventually were able to retrieve their children, police said.
After several hours, police exhausted their search of the church's grounds and announced that Chaanine had left the premises and was possibly armed and dangerous.
Chaanine, a white male, might be in a cream-colored 2005 Buick LeSabre, police said.
Review-Journal writer Brian Haynes contributed to this story.
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