Mugshot of Adonis Xavier Ventura. Photo Credit: THE VIRGIN ISLANDS POLICE DEPARTMENT
ST. CROIX — Adonis Xavier Ventura is before the criminal courts facing a slew of charges including attempted murder.
On the afternoon of March 26, a man called the 911 Emergency Call Center to say that he had been shot in the elbow and that he knew who the shooter was. The shooting victim told dispatch that the suspect had approached him in a truck and started firing. The man said he had to duck for cover in a nearby yard.
Responding officers say they found three spent casings on the road and an abandoned bicycle nearby. There was also a trail of blood from the bicycle to the nearby bushes. Several residents said that they heard up to seven distinct shots being fired.
According to court documents, when police arrived at the Juan F. Luis Hospital, they found the shooting victim breathing heavily, with his left arm bandaged in gauze and oozing blood. When police spoke with him about the incident, the man said that he was on his bicycle riding home from work when he saw a Chevrolet Silverado pull up alongside him. The man claimed that he knew the driver as they were once friends. Without uttering a word the driver, Adonis Ventura, allegedly pointed a handgun at the man, and discharged two rounds, causing his target to drop the bicycle and begin running. A short while after, more shots were heard and the man’s arm began to hurt. After touching himself to ascertain the extent of his injuries, he found that he had been shot in the elbow.
After this discovery, the man recounted running to a nearby residence and calling 911 when he saw Ventura leave. Asked for a possible motive, the man volunteered his theory that Ventura had become convinced that the man was spreading rumors about Ventura allegedly having sexual intercourse with a minor family member, according to court documents.
The bullet that had struck the man, medical practitioners found, had shattered the bone in his left elbow and left metal fragments inside his body.
When police went looking for Ventura, they found his father who said that he had left with friends. After advising Ventura’s father that he was needed for questioning, his father agreed to bring him in on March 27. Neither son nor his father reported to police that day, however, and police discovered that Ventura did not have a license to carry a firearm or ammunition in the territory.
About 5 p.m. on March 27, an all points bulletin for Ventura was placed on social media. The following day, Ventura reported himself to police. He was placed under arrest and charged with attempted murder in the first degree, mayhem, first-degree assault as an act of domestic violence, third-degree assault, reckless endangerment, unlawful possession of a firearm, and possession or sale of ammunition.
His advice of rights hearing was scheduled for March 29, 2023.
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