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ST. CROIX — Two men were found dead Sunday morning in gunshot incidents at different locations on St. Croix, one near the G-Max Service Station in Golden Rock and the other at the D. Hamilton Jackson Housing Community, commonly known as Red Brick, where police are investigating an apparent suicide. The Golden Rock killing brought the U.S. Virgin Islands' homicide count for 2026 to 40, according to V.I. Consortium tracking.
According to the V.I. Police Department, its gunshot detection system alerted the 911 Emergency Call Center to shots fired near G-Max Service Station in Golden Rock, Christiansted, at approximately 7:15 a.m. on October 11. Officers and emergency medical technicians responded and discovered an unresponsive man. Police said his identity was being withheld pending identification and notification of next of kin.
At approximately 8:09 a.m., police received another report, this time concerning a man with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at the D. Hamilton Jackson Housing Community. The man was found with no signs of life, and the VIPD is investigating the circumstances surrounding his death. He was identified by next of kin as 23-year-old Jacquam Phipps.
Sunday's apparent suicide adds to at least four other deaths reported by V.I. Consortium this year involving suspected suicide or apparent self-inflicted injuries. Those cases include a woman's death in Anna's Retreat on St. Thomas in January, a possible homicide-suicide in Estate St. John on St. Croix on September 12, a man's death near Market Square on St. Thomas on September 16, and the death of a 16-year-old boy at Lorraine Village on St. Croix on September 24. Not all of those deaths have been officially classified as suicides.
The Golden Rock homicide, meanwhile, brings St. Croix's killing count for 2026 to 23, compared with 17 on St. Thomas and none on St. John. The territory's previous homicide count stood at 39 following the September 28 shooting death of 21-year-old J'Niya Rambaran on Veterans Drive in St. Thomas.
Both Sunday morning deaths remain under investigation. Police have not released a suspect or motive in the Golden Rock killing and are asking anyone with information to contact the Criminal Investigation Bureau at 340-778-2211, Crime Stoppers V.I. at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or 911.
