Police are investigating the Monday night shooting of 21-year-old Bjorn Ebanks of West Bay’s Sand Hole Road.
Mr. Ebanks suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the chest in the attack, which occurred about 8.30pm in his Botswain’s Bay home. He is in George Town Hospital in critical condition.
Police spokesmen said two men were spotted running from the victim’s residence.
‘Four shots were fired. ‘There were two men, both about five-foot, six-inches, in dark clothing,’ a police spokesman said yesterday.
As of yesterday, officials had not released any details of the attack.
‘It’s possible that others were at the residence, but we don’t know at this time,’ the spokesman said.
Mr. Ebanks lives at home with his parents, a younger brother and a younger sister.
The shooting has sparked fears of a renewed gang war that took two lives and left two more critically injured in March.
Monday night’s attack bore disturbing similarities to the 9 March killing of 30-year-old Todd Powery, also of West Bay.
Mr. Powery was summoned into an alley outside his Morgan’s Harbour home and shot 17 times with an automatic weapon. The assailant fled on foot. While several suspects have been detained, no charges have been filed.
The killing was followed on 28 March by the attempted murder of Sheldon Brown, linked to local crime figures, outside an East End pub, leaving him in George Town Hospital.
On the evening of 29 March, shots were fired from semi-automatic and automatic weapons into a Bodden Town home, followed by the 30 March murder of Philip Watler outside the Cayman Islands Hospital.
At the time, police described the killing as a bungled attempt to reach Mr. Brown. One man was arrested on weapon’s charges in connection with Mr. Watler’s death.
The same day, at 11:55pm, an 18-year-old man was shot in West Bay, near Hell. One man was charged in the attack.
Police later described the series of assaults and killings as a gang war involving drug sales and turf.
The violence did little to resolve the problem, however, and officers have recently warned that the attacks were likely to be renewed.
The spokesman said yesterday that police had not connected Monday night’s assault with the gang violence, but did not rule it out.
‘We don’t know if the shooting is connected to the others. Not all crimes are alike, of course, and it is still early in the investigation,’ the spokesman said.
He was unable to say if drugs were involved or what type of weapons had been used.
Police last week revealed the recent merger of the Special Branch and Joint Intelligence Unit, facilitating investigation of Cayman’s growing gang problem.
Automatic weapons and drugs, particularly crack cocaine, notorious for the violence surrounding it, frequently function as currency among underworld figures.
Officials estimated that fewer than 100 hard-core gang members were dispersed throughout approximately 13 gangs, each of which was becoming increasingly territorial and violent.
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