July 17, 2001 – The second suspect in the New York shooting deaths of a St. John resident and two other people and the wounding of two others, one from St. John, has been picked up by police in Miami.
A couple of tips received following a segment of "America's Most Wanted" on television Saturday night led to the arrest of Sean Salley, 29. He was apprehended near a homeless shelter where he had been staying, according to reports by The New York Times and the Associated Press.
Salley and Andre Smith, 31, who turned himself into police in June, are the prime suspects in the May 10 shootings, which took place five stories above Manhattan's popular Carnegie Deli in the apartment of Jennifer Stahl, a onetime actress and frequent Virgin Islands visitor.
Stahl, St. John resident Charles "Trey" Helliwell and New York musician Stephen King were killed. Rosemond Dane, a 15-year St. John resident who owns three Cruz Bay shops, and New York hair stylist Anthony Veader were wounded.
The other four victims were visiting Stahl, who was once married to Wendell Callwood, son of Jost Van Dyke entrepreneur Foxy Callwood, when the two assailants came to the apartment, allegedly to rob Stahl, described by police as a high-end marijuana dealer. Authorities have said the four were innocent victims who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The two suspects got away from Stahl's apartment with $1,000 in cash and marijuana worth $1,800, according to published reports.
New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was quoted by The Times as saying, "So if you want to sum it up in financial terms, they killed three people, shot two execution style, for $2,800."
Salley eluded police for more than two months by moving from New Jersey, where he lived, south through Georgia and Louisiana, where he assumed the identity of Gayland Bell, a 38-year-old welder from Belle Rosa, La. From Louisiana he hitchhiked to Miami, where he took up residence at the homeless shelter, Beckham Hall.
After receiving the tips Saturday night, police went to the shelter and waited for Salley to return, which he did about an hour later, according to news reports. When he saw the police he ran, but he was caught about four blocks away, where he was bitten by the police dog that had been set in pursuit of him.
As of Monday, charges against Salley were pending, but published reports said police thought he would likely be charged with three counts of murder and other assault and weapons possession charges.
See "New York shootings shock St. John residents" for the initial Source report on the subject.
