A St. Croix man stabbed in the early morning hours of Thursday later succumbed to his injuries, the V.I. Police Department reported.
Police were dispatched to Bougainvillea Gardens Apartments in Frederiksted Town on Thursday around 12:52 a.m. A concerned citizen reported to emergency dispatchers that a man was stabbed, according to the police report.
Emergency Medical Technicians rendered medical aid and transported the victim to the Juan F. Luis Hospital. The victim sustained a stab wound to the right side of his neck and was in critical condition at the time, the police report stated.
An investigation disclosed that Omari Horton stabbed the victim in the neck with a knife, the report stated.
Horton, 30, was arrested for attempted murder in the first degree, assault first, and possession of a dangerous weapon during the commission of a crime of violence. Unable to post bail in the amount of $100,000, he was then transported to the John Bell Correctional Facility, where he was remanded pending his advice of rights hearing at the Superior Court set for Friday, according to the report.
Further investigation disclosed that the victim, identified by next of kin as 42-year-old Rupert Rivera, later succumbed to his injuries at the Juan F. Luis Hospital emergency room, police said.
Rivera’s death is the first homicide of 2024 for St. Croix and the second for the territory, according to the Source Homicide List.
The Source Homicide List is a chronological log of the homicides recorded in 2024 in the U.S. Virgin Islands, as reported by the VIPD. Cases are broken down by island. While it is based on VIPD reports, the Source does not include suicides or vehicular homicides in its listing that the police and some other media do. This can lead to a discrepancy in the number of incidents reported.
