A man identified by police as Rafael Callwood died at about 4 a.m. Friday at the Roy L. Schneider Hospital of gunshot wounds received Thursday.
Callwood had been found lying face down next to a parked vehicle near the Jane E. Tuitt Elementary School in Savan around 9:30 p.m. Thursday. He had been shot in the left and right shoulders and in the back. The bullet that went into his back lodged near his stomach, according to a Police Department statement late Friday afternoon.
At the hospital, the victim was reported in guarded condition in the intensive care unit Friday afternoon after being revived at the scene. According to police, he told investigators that he never saw his assailant.
Conflicting reports Saturday morning–one saying Callwood was alive, another saying he had died early Friday morning–led police information officer Sgt. Annette Raimer to explain that the Police Department had not been notified of the man's death.
"They should have someone assigned to notify the department," she said. "When I left my office at 5 p.m. (Friday), they said he was in ICU."
Callwood, a St. Thomas native, lived in the Nordsidevej area. His death is the seventh homicide on St. Thomas and the 11th in the territory this year.
As of July 18, 1999, there had been seven homicides on St. Thomas and 13 in the territory. The numbers jumped to nine on St. Thomas and 15 territorywide by the end of July 1999.
Police asked that anyone with information about the Callwood shooting call the confidential hotline at 777-8711. Raimer stressed that all calls are confidential. Other numbers to call to give the police information are 774-2211, 774-4050 and 911.
Editor's note: Conflicting information led the Source to report Callwood died on Saturday morning. He actually died early Friday morning.
