Police and Fire Services units responding to a report of gunshots and a house fire Monday night found the badly burned bodies of two people in the structure, the V.I. Police Department reported.
According to the VIPD, 911 dispatchers received a report of a disturbance in the Old Fredensburg Village, across Centerline Road, from the north entrance of the St. Croix Central High School. Moments later, 911 received a second call stating that a loud banging sound was heard coming from a neighbor’s home, followed by a discharge of gunfire.
Officers dispatched to the scene found the residence ablaze. V.I. Fire Services arrived and extinguished the fire.
Upon examining the home, officers and firefighters discovered the bodies of two people burned beyond recognition.
They were the 15th and 16th homicides on St. Croix since the first of the year, the 34th and 35th in the territory in that time. The names of the victims have been withheld by police pending an autopsy and notification of next of kin.
According to the preliminary report, a neighbor who’d initially phoned 911 said after having heard the gunshots from the nearby home, he began calling out to the occupants of the home, phoned their residence and received no response.
A second neighbor told officers that after having heard the sounds of gunfire, he went to the home to check on the occupants. As the neighbor got closer to the residence, he realized that the structure was burning and he was forced to leave the home as the flames had become so intense.
Police urged anyone with information on the crime to phone the Criminal Investigation Bureau at 340-712-6024, Chief of Police-St. Croix Arthur Hector Sr. at 340-712-6005, or to contact the anonymous tip service, Crime Stoppers USVI, at 1-800-222-8477 or online at www.crimestoppersusvi.org.