In a statement that has become all too familiar this year in the territory, police on St. Thomas announced that a man was killed by gunfire and another was wounded in Estate Brookman Monday morning.
Police said 37-year-old Ernst Cadet, a Haitian native and resident of Estate Nadir, was shot and killed at about 10:38 a.m. as he was leaving the Dana Mart market on Brookman Road.
According to the VIPD release, witnesses said someone in a white vehicle driving near the market opened fire in the direction of a group of people, hitting Cadet and an unidentified 20-year-old male from Estate Mariendal.
The wounded man drove himself to Schneider Medical Center, police said.
Monday’s killing was the 18th in the territory this year and the 9th on St. Thomas.
Even before Monday’s homicide, the VIPD had already designated the area around the Dana Mart as a crime “hot spot,” where young men often loiter and where police have made multiple arrests and confiscated numerous guns.
Three men were wounded there in a similar drive-by shooting in August that killed 29-year-old Jahem Mahoney.
In the statement issued Monday, VIPD Commissioner Novelle E. Francis reminded the community there is a standing $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of any homicide suspect.
Anyone with information relative to this or any other homicide is asked to call Major Crime Detective Lionel Bess on his cell at 642-8449, or at his office at 715-5545 or 715-5546. You can also call Crime Stoppers USVI at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
