Friday, January 9, 2009

Man arrested in West Bay shooting


Royal Cayman Islands Police have made a quick arrest in connection with a shooting outside a West Bay restaurant–store Thursday night.

Investigators took a 33–year–old suspect into custody Friday on suspicion of attempted murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm. He had not been charged as of Friday afternoon.

The Thursday night attack left a West Bay man in critical condition.

The victim, identified as 40–year–old Tony Ebanks, was taken to hospital in a private vehicle around 11pm Thursday after he was shot near the Super C restaurant on Watercourse Road.

Witnesses at the scene said Mr. Ebanks and a few others were sitting on a truck outside the restaurant when a suspect opened fire and ran off. The restaurant was closed at the time, according to its owner.

Super C owner Caches Stewart said Mr. Ebanks, who lives across the street from the store, has been shot at before in an apparent dispute with other local residents. He said he didn’t expect Thursday night’s violence to overly affect his business.

“For now, people for the first couple days will avoid it,” Mr. Stewart said. “But people in the area know who is who and what is what.”

The shooting is the second major incident of gun violence to occur in the first week of the New Year. On 3 January, a 17–year–old man was shot to death, and a 22–year–old seriously wounded outside a George Town nightclub.

There is not believed to be any connection between the two attacks.

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