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Homicides 2014

1 – STX

1 – Territory

Day of death – Jan. 1

Francisco Rivera, age 27, was shot and killed while standing near his vehicle in the government office parking lot, adjacent to the site of the Crucian Christmas Carnival Village. Officers in the area and at about 3:19 a.m. found the victim lying on the pavement, unresponsive. According to the report, Rivera was taken to the Juan F. Luis Memorial Hospital by medical personnel and pronounced dead. Police said the carnival village had closed about 20 minutes earlier.

1 – STT

2 – Territory

Day of Death – Jan. 4

At about p.m. Jan. 3, officers responded to a report of shots fired at Oswald Court, where they found Hodge lying in the archway of Building 20. Police said he appeared to have been shot several times. He was taken to the Schneider Regional Medical Center for treatment. Medical personal told police Hodge died from his injuries the next day at 9:41 p.m. On Jan. 14 police arrested 40-year-old Akebo Tucum Thomas and charged him with murder.

1 – STJ

3 – Territory

Day of death – Jan. 19

41-year old James Malfetti was found unresponsive inside his Chocolate Hole apartment. Officers said the victim had puncture wounds on his neck.

2 – STX

4 – Territory

Day of death – Jan. 21

One man was killed and a second injured in a shooting in Estate Willaims Delight. The homicide victim was identified as Antonio Ilaraza. Officers arriving on the scene at about 10:15 p.m. saw the victim lying in the street with several people gathered around him. Police also contacted the second victim at his home, which is located nearby. Both victims were taken to the Juan F. Luis Memorial Hospital by ambulance, where Ilraza was pronounced dead.

2 – STT

5 – Territory

Date of death – Jan. 24

22-year-old Kishawn Doyling died about four hours after being struck by gunfire while a passenger in a car in Sugar Estate. The driver of the vehicle was also struck by gunfire in the incident. According to medical personnel Doyling was shot once in the left side of his abdomen and the second man was shot at least twice in the legs and once to the left side of his chest. Doyling told police they did not see who shot them and did not notice any suspicious activity in the area at the time. Medical personnel said Doyling died from his injuries at about 2:45 a.m. Friday.

3 – STX

6 – Territory

Date of death– Feb. 1

Police were dispatched at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday to the Vegetable Market area in Frederiksted, where they found the unresponsive body of 21-year-old Wellington Pennyfeather Jr. According to police, he had become engaged in a fight with someone at the market and was shot, falling into the street. He was declared dead at the Juan F. Luis Hospital.

3 – STT

7 – Territory

Date of death: March 7

March 7

Police were alerted to a one-car traffic accident involving a gold Honda Accord that crashed into a fence in Tutu Valley. While investigating the accident police saw the unresponsive body of a woman later identified as Shantee Seivewright in the vehicle. Police said the victim had injuries to her body that were not the result of an auto accident. While at the scene police received information that a man was at a nearby bar telling patrons that he wanted to kill himself. When police went to the location they saw the man had blood on his clothes. The man, identified as Adisa Beretrand, was taken to the Schneider Regional Medical Center and seen by the medical staff and subsequently released to Major Crime detectives.

4 – STX

8 – Territory

Date of death: March 12

34-year-old Vernon James was found shot to death shortly after 1 p.m. on the residential block between the David H. Jackson Terrace and the abandoned Ralph de Chabert community. Emergency medical technicians could not detect any vital signs and the victim was transported to the Juan F. Luis Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

4 – STT

9 – Territory

Date of death: March 25

Police responding to a 911 call at the Tutu housing community found 26-year-old Kenroy Davis in the vicinity of Building 14, unresponsive, with gunshot wounds to his body. A minor female victim had also received a gunshot wound, and was treated at Schneider Regional Medical Center. According to police Davis may have been involved in an altercation before the shooting.

5, 6 – STT

10, 11 – Territory

Date of death: April 11

Jaquan Murrell, 20, and 18-year-old Tiquana Petty, both residents of the Tutu High Rise housing community, were killed when shots were fired at them as they drove on the Anna’s Retreat roadway overlooking the community. Officers responding to 911 calls found Murrell behind the wheel of a blue Suzuki which had been riddled with gunshots. Petty was dead at the scene. Murrell was transported to Schneider Regional Medical Center where he died of his wounds. The police forensics team collected a variety of items, Rames said, including a firearm in Murrell’s possession.

5 – STX

12 – Territory

Date of death: April 19

Matthew Vernege Jr. died at about 3 a.m. April 19 as the result of wounds suffered outside the Front Line nightclub. According to witnesses, Verenge and a woman were leaving the club when confronted by several men. Shots were fired and emergency medical technicians found Vernege’s unresponsive body at the scene. An off-fiuty policeman at the club ordered the suspects to drop their weapons but they opened fire, striking the officer in the back. The suspects were arrested a short time later at the scene of an accident. At least five firearms were recovered.

7 – STT

13 – Territory

Date of death: April 26

Officers responding to a report of a man carrying a weapon shot and killed a man identified as 31-year-old Clyde Norford. The incident took place at approximately 12:21 a.m. in the vicinity of Fort Christian. According to the preliminary investigation, officers received information that Norford was armed with a firearm. At some point during their interaction with Norford, a shot was fired, resulting in Norford’s death on the scene. A firearm was recovered on his person.

8 – STT

14 – Territory

Date of death: May 1

An unidentified man between the ages of 38 and 44 was found shot to death inside a running Jeep Cherokee near Gas Works in Bovoni about 12:30 a.m. The man appeared to have sustained several gunshot wounds. Emergency medical technicians on the scene said the victim had no vital signs.

9 – STT

15 – Territory

Date of death – May 2

At 7:43 a.m. the 911 dispatch center received a call from a man at the Food Center Supermarket in Estate Fredenhoj saying that his his girlfriend was not breathing and requesting an escort to the hospital. The man, later identified as former VIPD Captain Enrique Saldana, was escorted to the Roy L. Schneider Hospital by a law enforcement officer. At the hospital, Saldana told officers he had been at Vessup Beach with his wife, 43 year-old Jeanette Magras-Saldana, and that while they were at the beach his wife collapsed and stopped breathing. Emergency room medical staff pronounced Magras-Saldana dead on arrival. Preliminary investigation revealed that Magras-Saldana sustained multiple bodily injuries, some of which caused severe black and blue bruising. Additionally, medical personnel said the victim appeared to have died several hours prior to her arrival at the hospital. The exact cause of death was to be determined by an autopsy.

STX – 6

Territory – 16

Date of death: May 12

The body of 29-year-old Curdellius Monchary was found at about 10:30 a.m. in shallow water just south of Rainbow Beach on St. Croix’s west end. The victim had at least one deep cut to the back of his neck. Monchary’s family last saw him at about 7 p.m. May 11. They reported him missing about 9:30 a.m. May 12.

STX – 7

Territory – 17

Date of death: May 27

19-year old Lenn Williams walked into the Juan F. Luis Memorial Hospital Monday night suffering from a gun shot would to his abdomen, and died a short time later at the hospital. Police were notified of his arrival at about 11:45 p.m. and were told that he was in surgery. They were informed he had died at about 2 a.m.

STT – 10

Territory – 18

Date of death: May 30

23-year-old Felix Hector Fredimon was shot and killed shortyly after midnight during what police said was the commission of an arme3d robbery. According to the police report, Fredimon and a second man walked into the First Stop Gas Station and Convenience store, brandished handguns, attacked and threatened two men who were in the store. Both victims had personally licensed firearms and were able to fire shots at the suspects. Fredimon was killed and the second fled the area.

STX – 8

Territory – 19

Date of death: June 18

25-year-old Akil Abdul Jamal Braffit was shot and killed shortly before midnight in Estate Williams Delight. The 911 dispatcher received a call reporting shots fired at 11:51. Officers arriving aty the scene discovered Braffit’s body, unresponsive. Emergency medical personnel determined he had no vital signs.

STT – 11

Territory – 20

Date of Death: June 28

41-year-old Irvin Clendinen Jr. was shot and killed and two female minors were injured while driving eastbound on Smith Bay Road. According to police, two vehicles passing int he opposite direction fired shots that struck Clendinen’s vehicle, the V.I. Police Department reported. Police found a second gunshot-0damaged vehicle on the road, abandoned. A third was tracked down to the parking area of the Tutu Hi-Rise housing community.

STX – 9

Territory – 21

Date of death: July 1

Jesus Browne, 27, was shot multiple times in Estate Monbijou and died at the Juan F. Luis Memorial Hospital V.I. Police Department . officers were dispatched to a call of shots fired and a man down just before 10:30 p.m. Arriving at the scene, they found the unresponsive body of the victim on the ground between two parked vehicles.

STT – 12

Territory – 22

Date of death: July 4

23-year-old O’Benson Antoine was shot and killed by V.I. Police Department officers investigating a Cassi Hill area gunfight they were responding to Friday morning. Concerned neighbors called 911 Emergency dispatch several times beginning at 10:25 a.m. on July 4 to report a large disturbance and shots fired in the area. According to a statement from the V.I. Police Department, police tried to detain stopped a car carrying people believed to be involved in the incident and ordered the car’s occupants to get out of the vehicle. However officers said Antoine returned to the vehicle and was seen reaching for a firearm. Antoine was fatally shot after police ordered him to stop and Antoine refused to comply. A 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol was recovered from the vehicle.

STT – 13

Territory – 23

Date of death: July 13

Sheldon Benjamin Jr., 19, executed by gang. Police responding to reports of shots fired arrived on the scene on the Monster Hill Road in Estate Tutu saw a white Toyota Corolla on the side of the road with the engine still running. The vehicle’s rear glass was shattered and there was evidence of gunshot damage to the body of the vehicle. A few feet away an unresponsive male victim was observed in the road. Emergency medical technicians on the scene said the victim had been shot several times and they could not detect any vital signs. Benjamin was taken to the Schneider Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead by medical staff.

STX – 10

Territory – 24

Date of death: July 21

St. Croix resident Eddie Harriett Jr., age 19, died from shots fired while driving a vehicle on the Queen Mary Highway near the Estate Lower Love Service Station at about 3:20 p.m. July 21, according to the police. According to the initial police report the victim was driving a green and multicolored Honda Civic, west to east. When he passed the Lower Love Service Station a man standing in the area began shooting at the car, hitting Harriett, making him crash into the concrete entrance of the Department of Agriculture. Harriet was pronounced dead at the scene.

STT – 14

Territory – 25

Date of death: July 26

Shaquille Pierce, 21, was shot and killed at the Kirwan Terrace housing community. Citizens reported shots fired at about 10:13 p.m. Officers arriving at the scene found Pierce’s body sitting in a chair behind Building 8. Police believbe one or more assailants approached him and shot him while he sat. Emergency medical technicians on the scene said Pierce had no vital signs. Staff at the Schneider Regional Medical Center later pronounced him dead.

STT – 15

Territory – 26

Date of death: Sept. 4

The body of 26-year-old Keithroy Caines was found in an apartment in Building 21 of Oswald Harris Court. Police were dispatched to the area at about 4:47 a.m. after the sounds of shots were reported to the 911 emergency center. Officers were directed to an apartment in Building 21 where they found an unresponsive black man in a bedroom in the apartment. He appeared to have been shot at least once to the upper body.

STT – 16

Territory – 27

Date of death – Sept. 17

A 52-year-old man, unidentified by the police, was found in the road near the Bergs Home housing community, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was transported to the Schneider Regional Medical Center, where he succumbed to his wounds.

STX – 11

Territory – 28

Date of death – Sept. 24

Miguel Rivera, 25, who police said recently had been released from the Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility, was fatally shot in the Mutual Homes Apartments Wednesday, according to the V.I. Police Department.

STX – 12

Territory – 29

Date of death – Oct. 3

A 33-year-old woman, Shukura St. Louis, was found shot to death Friday morning at a residence in Estate Grove Place. The V.I. Police Department received the call alerting them to the incident at about 8:50 a.m. Friday. When police arrived at the scene the mother of the victim told officers that she heard a gunshot sometime after midnight but she did not pay much attention to it. When she awoke in the morning she went to check on her daughter and found her unresponsive in her bed with a gunshot wound to her body.

STX – 13

Territory – 30

Date of Death – Oct. 8

Malik Davis, age 19, was shot to death in the front yard of an Estate Work and Rest home. Police were alerted to the shooting just after 9 a.m. According to the police report, Davis was in the front yard of the residence with one or more individuals. Davis and at least one other individual were arguing about a horse, police said.

STX – 14

Territory – 31

Date of Death – Nov. 1

A badly burned human body was found at about 1:30 p.m. in the Ha’Penny Beach parking lot on St. Croix. Criminal Investigation Bureau and Major Crime detectives are investigating, but are awaiting the report from the medical examiners office before identifying the body.

STX – 15

Territory – 32

Date of Death – Nov. 17

A 54-year-old Hispanic male was killed at 4:30 a.m. on Company Street. Officers were dispatched to a fight in progress in the area of 33 Company Street. When they arrived they observed the victim lying unresponsive on the ground on the northern side of the building. Emergency medical technicians found no vital signs.

STJ – 2

Territory – 33

Date of Death – Nov. 18

A 55-year-old man was found dead in his East End home. Police were called to the scene around 9:15 a.m. Police Department spokesman Melody Rames said, “Detectives are investigating a homicide.” The victim was identified as Ed Netherland.

STX – 16

Territory – 34

Date of death – Nov. 29

Salah Dawod, 69-year-old owner of the Lower Love Service Station, which was robbed by armed gunman Nov. 22, died of his wounds just after 8 p.m. Nov. 29. At the time of the robbery, two armed men entered the service station just after 7 p.m., threatened the owner and demanded money. During the robbery the suspects shot the business owner and then fled the scene.

STX 17

Territory– 35

Date of death – Nov. 23

Detectives investigating the reported kidnapping of 37-year-old Tarik Abdallah found a badly burned body Nov. 25 in a burned out vehicle in the Annaley Bay area. The car According to detectives, 7:35 p.m. Saturday police were contacted by a woman who said her husband, 37 year-old Tarik Abdallah

STX – 18

Territory – 36

Date of death – Nov. 24

The body of Trevor Pamphile, age 24, was found dead by the side of the road at 10:15 p.m. in Estate Humbug. Officers had been dispatched to the area to investigate shots fired. Upon arriving they found Pamphile’s unresponsive body on the side of the roadway.

STT – 17

Territory – 37

Date of death – Nov. 30

25-year-old Jonathan Vasquez was shot just before midnight at Lindbergh Bay and later died of his wound. Officers were dispatched to Lindbergh Bay to respond to a report of a shooting. While traveling to the scene, officers learned that a man suffering from a gunshot wound was being taken to the Schneider Regional Medical Center by a private vehicle. Vasquez died at the hospital.

STT – 18

Territory – 38

Date of death – Dec. 2

Police found the body of man shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday at his home at the Sapphire Village Apartments. Several of his acquaintances told officers they had not seen the man, later identified as 60-year-old William Bennett, for several days and went to his apartment, where they found the body.

STT – 19

Territory – 39

Date of death – Dec. 19

Officers dispatched to the Tutu High Rise apartments to investigate reports of gunfire at about 11:45 a.m. found 36-year-old Ishmell A. Sasso on the ground in a bushy area near the building. He had been shot several times. Emergency medical technicians said the victim had no vital signs. He was later pronounced dead by medical personnel.

STX – 19

Territory – 40

Date of death – Dec. 20

21-year-old Sadiki David was found shot to death in Estate Grand Princess. V.I. Police Department officers were dispatched at about 4:15 a.m. to the scene near Chris Hideaway nightclub, where they found the victim. Officers said there had been an altercation between David and another person or persons.

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