Early this morning, the typically bustling scene at Gun Lake Casino in Wayland was disrupted when a vehicle crashed into the casino's south entrance. According to FOX 17, the incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. resulting from what appears to be a domestic dispute.
The woman driving the SUV was transported to the hospital following the event, while the man, reportedly the target of her action, remained unharmed. The crash, which significantly damaged the entrance, had emergency services and casino personnel responding to the scene - with the damaged vehicle being towed away around 6 a.m., WZZM13 reported.
The SUV managed to penetrate 10 feet into the casino, shattering both sets of doors and damaging multiple slot machines in the process. There were no injuries reported; this includes a security guard who was near the entrance at the time of the crash, according to information obtained by WOODTV. Despite the damage, the casino remains operational, with only a section near the damaged entrance currently closed.
Amid the aftermath, Gun Lake Casino's Vice President of Marketing, Carter Pavey, addressed the situation, stating the casino will reevaluate their security measures. “I think our systems and processes work. We’ll be evaluating additional bollards and really need to investigate how she got around the bollards in the first place,” Pavey said. In a reflection on the unforeseen nature of such events and the fortunate lack of injury he added, “This is one of those things that you can’t necessarily prevent (or) you can plan for. We were very fortunate, lucky, that no one was injured. Our team did a great job of responding quickly to ensure that the scene was clear.” The incident continues to be under investigation, as detailed by WOODTV.
