A man who created a ruckus at the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday after it was alleged that he attempted to rob a patient using a fake gun was detained by police at the institution for being in possession of an unlawful weapon.

The scruffy looking man, who was carrying a bag of clothes at the time of the alleged incident, was handed over to police in the city shortly before midday. Minutes after he was detained, the man broke down in tears saying the incident was a mix-up.

He denied pulling the toy gun on the patient and begged for a chance to be free. The man said he had travelled from Berbice and was in the city looking for work.

Stabroek News was told that reports of the attempted robbery were greatly exaggerated, and that the man was “depressed and slightly off”.  A hospital source said the man did not pull any gun on the patient, but that he was carrying a toy gun when police held him. Additionally, he was in possession of a rubber mask.

The hospital source said the man had mental issues and that he turned up the hospital outpatient department carrying the toy gun. An alarm was raised and the man ran away but was later detained outside the public hospital.

It was around 10 am yesterday when news of an alleged robbery swept the public hospital and the compound was abuzz with theories of what had happened.

“Is a fake gangsta try to rob a woman,” a man said when questioned about the commotion outside the police outpost in the hospital compound.  The man then recounted how the alleged robber seated inside the outpost had pulled a gun on a patient then run off. He said too, that the man tried to change his clothes in a sort of disguise but was spotted and detained.

A man who also claimed to have witnessed the incident said the patient who the man pulled the toy gun on did not panic.

He said that another person raised an alarm and the man ran away. According to him, the patient knew the gun was a fake from the minute the man brandished it.

Police at the outpost told this newspaper that the incident was inflated by onlookers, but confirmed that the man had a toy gun and rubber mask. The police also said that the man was being held for being in possession of an unlawful weapon and that he would be handed over for further questioning.