The man police say shot a neighbor in the back and her teenage daughter in the leg as she fled — while small children stood close by — was in federal court Tuesday where a judge ordered he be held without bail.
Prosecutors said Miguel Marrero, 52, was an obvious flight risk as well as a danger to his community. Marrero, represented by a public defender, did not oppose detention.
People in St. Croix’s Candido Guadalupe Terrace housing community told counselors a day after the shooting that they were frightened of continued escalation in what police described as a violent inter-family feud.
Prosecutors and District Court Magistrate Judge Emile A. Henderson III noted Marrero had three previous felony convictions for assault, domestic violence, and illegal firearm possession — and that a video of the July 4 assault presented strong evidence against Marrero.
Local charges would soon be dropped, prosecutors said, to be replaced by the federal charges. Marrero, wearing a red prison jumpsuit, handcuffs and chains, was read his rights and not required to enter a plea.
Witnesses of the July 4 shooting told police a group of teens had been harassing Marrero’s 17-year-old son for days. Marrero reportedly urged his son to fight a 15-year-old girl in the group. When the boy beat the girl to the ground, her mother came running. Video of the incident shows arguing and brief physical altercations before the man, police identified as Marrero, quickly raises a black handgun and shoots the woman as she turns away.
Ten or more young children — and a woman holding a baby standing very close to the weapon — scattered, screaming while three more shots were fired. Two bullets hit the girl who had been fighting, one in her leg and one in the ankle. She was treated and released from Juan F. Luis Hospital, but her mother underwent emergency surgery to repair damage to major organs, according to police.
Police said she was in stable condition Tuesday and recovering on St. Croix, not the mainland as reported elsewhere.
— Reporter Diana Dias contributed to this report.
