At least 10 bullets were fired in Tuesday night’s George Town ambush of Jason Christian and Keith Montique. Christian, 18 was shot in the head and Montique, 22, survived four wounds and was airlifted to Miami yesterday.

Alerted by Mr Montique just after 9:30pm on a routine stop in Crewe Road, police found Mr Christian in nearby Cranbrook Drive, slumped at the wheel of a white Toyota Liteace van.

“Police officers found the van with the engine running, stuck slightly into the bushes. At the wheel was a young man who obviously had received gunshot wounds to the head. He was barely alive and expired after a very short period of time,” said RCIPS Chief Superintendent John Jones.

“Officers found a loaded revolver in the white van very near to the victim. It would appear that, at the time, the gun hadn’t been fired,” he said.

Police had found “a minimum of 10 spent shells” at the scene, he said, “but don’t know exactly the number of guns” that were used. He declined to speculate on the weapons.

According to the Chief Superintendent, Mr Montique, described by medical personnel as “unbelievably lucky”, had “staggered” across Crewe Road, “and, with obvious injuries, opened the door of a police vehicle parked in Birchwood Drive, saying he’d been shot.

“The officer took him to George Town Hospital to be treated. He told her he’d been with a friend in Cranbrook Drive and that his friend had been shot,” Mr Jones said.

The two, he said, had “gone into Cranbrook Drive to meet somebody at an address. The person wasn’t there. It would appear that a gunman approached from the bush and fired some shots at Mr Montique and his friend, who attempted to drive away.”

A hospital spokesman said Mr Montique was in “serious, but stable condition.”

“The van,” Mr Jones said, “was the same used in last Friday’s Tortuga Rum theft in Pasadora Place, but it was not used by the suspects in the robbery”. Detective Superintendent Marlon Bodden declined to say who held the van’s registration.

Neither Mr Jones nor Mr Bodden would say if the victims had been lured to the small suburban street: “We are still investigating, but we are not excluding that by any stretch,” Mr Jones said.

While unwilling to be explicit about Mr Christian’s and Mr Montique’s links to three gun and gang-related murders in West Bay since last Tuesday, both officers said the men had West Bay addresses and connections and  “were known to us”.

“I won’t say ‘no, it isn’t’ [connected], but I will be equally careful about saying ‘yes, these people are connected to the shootings, but, given the timing, we think there is a strong possibility they are connected,” Mr Jones said.

Referring to the recent deaths, he said “It is clear all of these have been assassinations. The brutality speaks for itself. The perpetrators have been determined to kill and in all cases people were shot in the head.”

“All have been ambushed-style,” Mr Bodden said.

Police have arrested six people in relation to gang affiliation, Mr Jones said, and would monitor Facebook pages supported by members of the warring Birch Tree Hill and Logwoods factions, some displaying gang members brandishing guns and threatening retaliation.

“We are trying to get legislation changed about firearms to shift the burden of proof onto the persons who have to prove these are not real,” Mr Bodden said. “They are individuals causing havoc in the Cayman Islands.”