ST. CROIX — A 30-year-old man was shot multiple times on Tuesday night and succumbed to his wounds at the Juan F. Luis Hospital, Police Commissioner Delroy Richards confirmed to The Consortium on Wednesday morning.
The 911 emergency call center notified V.I.P.D. officers at about 9:35 p.m. on Tuesday of multiple shots being fired in downtown Frederiksted, in the vicinity of Prince Street. Police officers responded to the scene and found the victim lying on the ground, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
According to the preliminary report, the victim, identified as Conrad Phipps, Jr., of Concordia, was involved in an argument in the same area that spiraled out of control. Shots were then discharged, leaving Mr. Phipps clinging to life.
An Ambulance was summoned to the location to immediately transport Mr. Phipps to the hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries, according to Mr. Richards.
The commissioner said while there has been a noticeable drop in gun violence in the territory since the December 2015 initiative, certain crimes, because of their nature, are hard to prevent.
“We’re trying to get the community to understand that people are going to have arguments, and people are going to resort to violence, and that’s basically the nature of the beast,” Mr. Richards said. “We will continue to do our very best with patrols to prevent crime, but you’re still going to find those pockets where people will assemble and at some point there will be disagreements, and unfortunately, some will resort to some sort of violence.”
He added: “And we shouldn’t have that, but that’s the way it is. And we are going to continue doing our best to keep this community safe.”
The V.I.P.D. is continuing its investigation into this matter, and is urging anyone with information to contact the Major Crimes Unit at 340-642-8449, 911 or the anonymous tip service, Crime Stoppers USVI at 1-800-222-8477.
Tags: conrad phipps jr, homicide, st croix
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