A St. Thomas man awaiting sentencing Monday on illegal firearms possession was shot and killed Sunday morning after a reported struggle with another man at the Central Guest House on Bunker Hill.
Law enforcement sources Sunday confirmed that Anthony "Hamster" Warner died at the scene as a result of gunshot wounds to the head and chest. Warner was convicted Sept. 23 of illegal weapons possession in connection with the death of Carl "Bugsy" Johnson at Paul M. Pearson Gardens. In that same case, he was acquitted of murder.
On Sunday morning, sources said Warner and a man got into a struggle at the guest house that resulted in the fatal shooting. The unidentified man was also shot during the altercation and was transported by ambulance to Roy L. Schneider Hospital after being taken into police custody. A second suspect was also reported to be in custody at the Richard N. Callwood police command.
Major crime investigators and forensics agents converged on the narrow winding street that connects Mafolie Hill to Garden Street to look into the incidents that led to the shooting. About two hours after the shooting, police officers and personnel from the medical examiner's office carried Warner's body down a staircase to a waiting vehicle for transport to the Schneider hospital morgue. Investigators left the scene with potential witnesses who they hope will shed light on the pre-dawn killing.
It was not known Sunday morning whether police recovered the murder weapon or established a motive for the shooting.
Warner was facing the possibility of life in jail, as the government had planned to have him classified as a habitual offender at sentencing. Prosecutor Lofton Holder said at the Territorial Court jury trial last month that Warner was convicted of armed robbery in 1985.
Warner became the 15th murder victim in the territory this year, the ninth in the district of St. Thomas-St. John.
