A manhunt is currently under way for the lone shooter who opened fired during a Cayman Islands Premier League football match, that left seven people in the hospital nursing gunshot wounds.
The shooting, which occurred shortly after 9pm Sunday, 25 Feb., left hundreds of stadium attendees, including women, children and the elderly, scrambling for cover.
Footage of the incident, which has since surfaced, shows the moment gunshots rang out, at the rear of the stadium towards the far left by a standalone building during the half-time break of the match between Academy SC and Elite SC.
The shooting coincidentally occurred on the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Ed Bush stadium.
When Compass staff visited the stadium shortly after 11am on Monday, 26 Feb., police had already departed, and the caution tape had been ripped away and thrown in the bin. A professional cleaning company was on the scene, attempting to clear the facilities of any indication of activity from the previous night.
Bullet holes and blood
However, some unmistakable signs of a crime scene were harder to erase.
Smashed windows with what appeared to be bullet holes were but a few feet away from dried blood spatters along a concrete walkway.
The blood on the ground aligns with witness accounts of how the victims fled from the assailant towards a tunnel that granted access to the changing rooms and the pitch.
The gunman, who pursued his victim, continued shooting, hitting another person and grazing five others.
The motive behind the attack remains unclear, as is the identity of the shooter, who is thought to have escaped in the crowd during the ensuing commotion.
One witness, who spoke to the Cayman Compass on condition of anonymity, recalled seeing a young man with a blood-soaked hoodie walking nonchalantly among them.
“It looked almost like fake blood all over his back,” she said.
As of 11:39pm Sunday, police had not made any arrests, saying the matter remains under investigation.
As news of the shooting broke, social media was filled with comments such as “Can’t believe this is what this country is coming to,” “Who would shoot up a football match with families and their young children,” and “Truly a sad day in Cayman”.
In the hours after the shooting, several match officials voiced their concerns about safety and the police.
Meanwhile, a number of elected officials have spoken out about what happened Sunday, including Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, who stated the she was “deeply troubled by the horrific shooting incident” and would be convening an emergency meeting with all members of Parliament in the wake of the event.
The premier called for a press briefing at 3pm Monday, at which Governor Jane Owen and Police Commissioner Kurt Walton are among those slated to speak.
Check back for more details on this developing story.
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