A day of shopping was interrupted by a hail of gunfire Saturday as two suspects were shot by police and two others arrested following an armed robbery at the Sunny Isles Shopping Center on St. Croix.
According to Deputy Police Chief Arthur Hector, who was on the scene along with Police Chief James Parris, police officers encountered the suspects exiting the business.
Officers received a report of the robbery from the 911 Emergency Dispatch at about 11:44 a.m. However, two VIPD officers were already in the area and responded to reports from concerned citizens.
The officers rushed to the Cleopatra’s Gift shop and encountered the suspects attempting to leave.
According to Hector, the officers were fired upon by the suspects and officers returned fire.
One witness told the Source he at first didn’t realize they were gunshots, because he heard so many.
"The most striking part of this incident was the number of shots fired. I refused to believe it was gunfire because there were just so many shots, all coming in the space of less than a minute," the witness said.
Two additional suspects were captured at the scene, police said.
According to the Deputy Chief, three armed suspects entered the store while one remained outside.
One suspect is an adult male and the remaining three are male minors between the ages of 17 and 14-years-old, he said. The initial police report did not include the names of the suspects.
The injured suspects were taken to the Governor Juan F. Luis hospital by ambulance. No bystanders or police officers were injured in the shooting.
The case is being investigated by the Criminal Investigation Bureau detectives and agents from the Internal Affairs Bureau.
