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HomeNewsArchivesGUNFIRE FROM CAR KILLS MAN OUTSIDE TUTU STORE

GUNFIRE FROM CAR KILLS MAN OUTSIDE TUTU STORE

Police identified a man fatally shot outside the Hometown Convenience Store on the Donoe Bypass road Monday morning as Ellis Blyden Jr.
They said Blyden was apparently going to use a pay telephone outside the Estate Tutu store when several shots were fired at him by the occupants of a dark-colored car, which then sped off.
The victim died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head, police said.
The shooting occurred shortly after 11 a.m. Monday and police were dispatched at about 11:16, according to a Police Department release.
The victim reportedly had stopped his vehicle near the convenience store and, the release said, "apparently was going to use the public phone" near the edge of the well-traveled roadway when he was gunned down.
Blyden's body remained at the shooting scene well past noon as forensics investigators gathered evidence to begin piecing together incidents leading up to the shooting. Law-enforcement sources said he had driven up to the pay phone in a white Toyota Echo, license No. T-37658, which remained at the scene as the investigation got under way.
Forensics officers dusted the driver door for fingerprints and removed some items from the car interior. Area residents who had gathered outside the convenience store reported having heard as many as four shots fired. No further information was available regarding the getaway car or a possible motive for the shooting.
Police ask that anyone with information about the case call the Major Crime Unit at 774- 2196, the Investigation Bureau at 774-4050 or police emergency 911.
Blyden's death is the third homicide on St. Thomas and the fifth in the territory this year. The last reported homicide on the island was on Jan. 27.

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