Police Say Leon Gray and Emeth Baptist were Targeted by Two Men

Early this morning, thirty-six-year-old Leon Gray was shot while walking near the Princess Hotel and Casino with another man. Police report that Gray and thirty-seven-year-old Emmeth Baptist were on Newtown Barracks around 2:45 a.m. when two men got out of a parked car and opened fire, hitting Gray. He has since been treated and released from K.H.M.H. This incident follows a Saturday assault that injured Akeem Smith. Smith and three others were returning from a trip at sea when two gunmen ambushed them near the Belize City Swing Bridge. Police are now implementing a special operation to prevent retaliation. These shootings come on the heels of the January thirty-first death of thirty-nine-year-old Brandon Baptist at the Marion Jones Complex. Smith and Gray are reportedly members of the same gang, while Baptist was linked to a rival gang.