Detectives with the Major Crime Unit on St. Thomas on Friday arrested 29-year old St. Thomas native Jamal Morton, presently an inmate at the Bureau of Corrections, for a 2009 murder, the V.I. Police Department reported.
Morton is suspected in the Aug. 9, 2009 shooting of Basheem Ford at approximately 4:30 a.m. Ford, 19, was found lying face down in the road near Market Square. He had been shot at least once in the upper body. Ford and his brother, Jermaine Parris, were awaiting trial on murder charges stemming from the 2007 shooting death of veteran police officer Ariel A. Frett.
Morton is charged with first degree murder, first-degree assault, possession of an unlicensed firearm during the commission of a crime of violence, reckless endangerment, grand larceny and possession of stolen property
Morton was arrested on a warrant issued by the Judge Adam Christian of the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands. Bail was set in the amount of $250,000, and Morton was remanded back to the Bureau of Corrections, after being processed.
“Once again, the hard work of the detectives assigned to Major Crime and Forensic Bureau paid off," said St. Thomas/St. John District Police Chief Rodney F. Querrard Sr. "Sometimes cases sit dormant and a perpetrator of a murder may feel they got away, (but) I assure you, that is not the case."
Querrard asked that anyone with information on this murder, or any other murder or crime, to call Major Crimes detectives at 340-642-8449, 340-714-9202, the chief’s office at 340-715-5548 or the anonymous tip service, Crimes Stoppers USVI, at 1-800-222-tips (8477).
