According to figures reviewed by the Caymanian Compass, there have been at least six people injured in shootings or machete attacks.

Two other shooting incidents have claimed the lives of 32-year-old Courtney Spence and four-year-old Jeremiah Barnes.

“The difference between murder and attempted murder is often just a matter of luck,” Police Commissioner David Baines told a Chamber of Commerce meeting last month.

Opposition MLA Alden McLaughlin recently expressed concern that the number of incidents involving shootings and violent attacks could eventually become seen by the public as commonplace, which he said would be a grievous blow to the Cayman Islands.

“What we don’t want is for this community to become so desensitised that they say ‘it’s just another shooting’.” He said. “That, to some extent, is already happening. It has already altered the way people think and what they do.”   

In response to the recent spate of crimes, the Ministry of Community Affairs and Housing has agreed to review a 2006 report done by Barbadian criminologist Yolande Forde on behalf of the Cayman Islands government. The report will be reviewed with an eye toward implementing its recommendations.

A private retreat will be held later this week by ministry officials to review the report.

“We must now focus on reducing crime by reaching out to our children and youth, improving their opportunities and access to programmes, identifying the gaps in our services, and strengthening our families and communities,” Community Affairs Minister Mike Adam said. “This is what the study recommends and this is what Government will implement.”

Between 14 January and 5 March there have been at least eight confirmed incidents where shots have been fired on Grand Cayman; in six of those incidents someone was hit.

On 14 January, there were three separate shots fired calls in West Bay. The first on Vibe Lane around 2pm, the second where shots were fired at a house on Fountain Road and the third, again on Vibe Lane where police said it appeared the occupants of two cars were shooting at each other.

Police said those shootings appeared to be “tit-for-tat” incidents involving local gangs. No one was hit in any of the shootings.

Thirty-two-year-old warehouse Courtney Spence was gunned down leaving work late on 28 January by a man who police said appeared to have been waiting there for him. No arrests have been made in Mr. Spence’s killing.

A few weeks later on 15 February, Cayman was stunned by the death of four-year-old Jeremiah Barnes as shots were fired into his father’s vehicle at a West Bay gas station in what again appeared to be a retaliatory shooting. One man, 24-year-old Devon Anglin, has been charged with murder in the case.

Things went quiet until 4 March, when two men were shot in separate incidents in West Bay – again, incidents which appeared gang-related. One of the victims was struck in the shoulder, another suffered minor head injuries.

A few hours later early on 5 March, gunfire rang out again in Windsor Park. No one was hit, but several vehicles parking along Templeton Street were hit by bullets.

That Friday afternoon, on Mary Street in George Town, a woman was shot in the face by an assailant outside a local bar. A 32-year-old man has been arrested, but not charged in that case.

In addition to the shootings, there were two attacks with machetes involving victims on Courts Road in George Town. The attacks occurred about 24 hours apart from each other and involved victims who lived at the same complex.

Both men had to be flown off-island for medical care for serious injuries. Both were expected to survive.