A guard at the Paris hotel where Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint earlier this month is blaming the facility’s lack of security for the heist.
In an interview with the Daily Mail the man, identified only as Abdulrahman, said that he warned the Hôtel de Pourtalès about its lax security years before the Kardashian theft, but that his bosses “didn’t care” about it.
He also said there was so few safeguards that he feared “someone might die.”
“There was no real security at all. It’s a choice,” he said in the interview. “The hotel doesn’t mind about security. We told them years and years before, you have to make a camera, you have to put [in place] a security process, about keys. Nothing was locked, there was no proper security there.’
Abdulrahman also revealed that the security code for the front door of the prestigious hotel hadn’t been changed since 2010, so “everyone knew it.” In addition, Daily Mail reporters claim they found that the code still hadn’t been changed two weeks after the robbery, having tried the code themselves while filming.
The 39-year-old guard also claimed that there have been no functioning security cameras at the hotel for at least six years, and that there is regularly only one guard on duty. Kardashian’s apartment door allegedly only had a Yale-type lock, with no additional bolt for security.
“There is a camera in the main wall of the hotel, behind the big red [front] doors, but it didn’t work for years,” he said. According to the Mail, management withheld installing cameras so its A-list clients wouldn’t be filmed entering the hotel.
Abdulrahman was the only guard on duty when the reality star was robbed at gunpoint. She was tied up by armed robbers, locked in a bathroom and had over $10 million worth of jewelry stolen on Oct. 2, according to the Associated Press.
The Daily Mail reported that Abdulrahman is pressing charges against the hotel. He said he was handcuffed at gunpoint and forced to act as the interpreter during the attack. He revealed that three robbers were dressed in police uniforms, with two wearing balaclavas. They immediately asked for the security video. He was told to never look at the robber or he “will kill” him.
“Immediately afterwards, I was very angry, and the first one I blamed was the hotel,” he said. “They are responsible, I think. And I still blame them now.”
A representative for the hotel declined TheWrap’s request for comment.