About 5 a.m. Friday, police on St. Croix executed search and arrest warrants for three suspects in relation to a report of shots fired two months ago inside the Passion Night Club in Mt. Washington. The V.I. Police Department said surveillance video inside the club showed that one of the suspects, 28-year-old Lionel Woodley, who was also the victim, had accidentally shot himself.
The shooting occurred Jan. 14. Woodley was the only person was injured.
In addition to Woodley, police arrested Ozanie Cornelius, 19, and Mikhail Monoz, 26. Police said officers confiscated two firearms, live ammunition, marijuana and crack cocaine.
Woodley and Monoz were each charged with unauthorized possession of a firearm and Cornelius was charged with possession of ammunition.
In the report created on the day of the shooting, police said they were in the vicinity of the nightclub when they heard popping sounds and saw people exiting the club in an alarmed manner. Officers entered the club and witnesses told them that the singer who was onstage at the time was shot and left the club.
The officers saw the victim outside the club before he was taken into a private vehicle to the Juan F. Luis Memorial Hospital.
Officers spoke to the victim at the hospital, where he told police he was onstage singing when he realized he had been shot.
According to the police department, the club’s surveillance video showed that Woodley was carrying a handgun as he was performing and the weapon discharged, striking him in the leg. The video also showed Cornelius and Monoz carrying concealed weapons inside the nightclub.
Detectives presented this information to the Superior Court magistrate who issued the search and arrest warrant.
Bail for Woodley was set at $35,000; bail for Cornelius was set at $10,000; and bail for Monoz was set at $60,000. None of the suspects were able to post bail and they were remanded to the Golden Grove Correctional Facility pending further court action.
