Three men were killed and a fourth injured Friday in three separate shootings on St. Thomas, according to the V.I. Police Department.
The three fatalities bring to 25 the number of homicides in the territory since the beginning of the year, according to the Source homicide list.* They bring the number of St. Thomas homicides since the beginning of the year to five. St. Croix has been the scene of 19 this year, and there has been a single one on St. John.
Police had not released the names of the victims by late Saturday night.
The VIPD had planned to hold a news conference at noon Saturday to discuss the crimes, but announced at midday that “internet issues” forced the event to be canceled. Police attempted to record the briefing and post it online, only to discover that there was no audio track. It was not until late Saturday that police shared or confirmed information about the events which had people talking all day across St. Thomas.
According to police, the day’s violent outbreak began when the 911 emergency operator received a report at 2:51 p.m., Friday, of shots fired at Coki Point. Officers found a man who had received multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to the Schneider Regional Medical Center by ambulance and was reported to be in serious condition.
At 6:27 p.m., 911 received a call of a shooting in the Bordeaux area, police said. Officers responding to the scene found an unresponsive Black male with a gunshot wound, police said.
Then at 11:20 p.m. callers reported to 911 that multiple gunshots were heard in the vicinity of Smith Bay and at least one man was down. At the scene, officers found two victims. One was reportedly dead at the scene and the second died of gunshot wounds at the Schneider Regional Medical Center.
*The Source homicide list is based on reports from the V.I. Police Department, but unlike the police list and the lists on some other media, the Source does not include vehicular homicides or suicides, which can lead to a discrepancy in the number of incidents reported.
