Suspect shooters arrested

(CNS): Two men have now been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Andrew Baptist, police have confirmed. The suspected gunmen were taken into custody by officers during two early morning operations in West Bay and Newlands on Wednesday. A spokesperson for the RCIPS said that the men have both been arrested on suspicion of murder and enquiries into the gang related shooting continue. Baptist was the second victim to be gunned down in a spate of gang related killings in September when thisyear’s local murder toll leapt from zero to five in a space of eight days.

The West Bay man was shot multiple times by two masked men while sitting outside a property in Sand Hole Road on Thursday 15 September in what police believed was a resurgence of local gang feuds. Baptist was shot in the wake of the killing of 28-year-old Robert Bush, who was murdered on Tuesday 13 September while sitting in a car at the junction of Capts Joe and Osbert Road and Birch Tree Hill.

Baptist’s murder was followed by the fatal shooting of West Bay teenager Preston Rivers (18), who was also killed in the district on Saturday 17 September on Anderson Road.

The gang related shooting then moved to George Town, where 19-year-old Jason Christian was shot dead and Keith Montague was severely injured after both of them were targeted by masked gunmen while sitting in a van in Crewe Road on 20 September. Then, in the early morning hours of Thursday 22 September, police on patrol in East End found the gunned down body of Asher McGaw on John McLean Drive.

Faced with five murder enquiries in just over one week, the RCIPS called in support from the UK to assist with the investigation. Around twenty officers from forces across the northwest of England flew to Cayman last month to partner will local detectives with the aim of tracking down the shooters and securing enough evidence for convicitons.