May 24, 2004 – St. Thomas police on Monday were investigating the shooting death of a man whose body was found with gunshot wounds in Estate Bovoni.
Investigators and forensics agents were called at mid-morning to the Sanchez Town area, where sources said the man's body was found lying in a pool of blood behind a wall in a vacant lot. "We have found some identification on the body," St. Thomas Deputy Police Chief Elvin Fahie said, but he declined to identify the victim pending notification of next of kin.
Area residents told authorities they had heard gunfire in the neighborhood around 11 p.m. Sunday. But no one reported it to police because, one resident said, "gunfire is so commonplace in our community."
"We hadn't had any reports to 911 about shots fired in the area on Sunday night," Fahie said. "This was new to us this morning."
Mary Griffin, a Bovoni/Nadir community resident, said that gun-related problems have been occurring in the neighborhood for months. "Sometimes it's so bad we can't get into our homes," she said, recalling a recent night when she returned home from church to see gunfire lighting up the sky. "I had to duck in my car because I heard some shots," she said.
"We all pay taxes, and this is what we have to put up with," Griffin added.
She said some residents heard the Sunday night gunfire but did not realize that someone had been shot.
Police asked that anyone with information about the case contact police detectives by calling at 774-2211, 777-8711 or 911.
The homicide is the seventh on St. Thomas and the 17th in the territory this year.
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