The woman shot in the back July 4 was in stable condition after emergency surgery Monday, according to police, as investigators probed the violent inter-family feud at St. Croix’s Candido Guadalupe Terrace.
Police said they’d been unaware of threats made online by the neighbors until the shooting Thursday afternoon. According to court records, a group of teenage boys had been harassing the 17-year-old son of Miguel Marrero, daring him to come outside and fight for at least two days. Marrero chased them away with a handgun July 3.
When the teens returned July 4, this time with a 15-year-old girl joining in, Marrero, who has six children, encouraged his son to fight the girl, according to court records. The boy beat the girl to the ground, drawing the attention of her mother.
A cellphone video of the incident shows a thin woman in a black tank top and jean shorts running barefoot through the litter-strewn courtyard, past a boy challenging another to a fight and other onlookers: a woman holding a baby swaddled in white, several young children, some appearing to be little older than toddlers.
Police acknowledge the video is online and warn anyone who finds it on social media, where it was widely spread, to consider it carefully before viewing.
The woman runs up to a man police identified as Marrero, 52, who is dressed in black shoes, black trousers, black shirt, and a black durag. She shouts, “That’s my daughter.” He shouts back, “That’s my son.” She paces and raises her hands as if in frustration and shouts for someone to bring her phone. Children gather closer as the woman appears to swipe at Marrero’s face, then says, “You’re going to come for me now.” The woman holding a baby is very close as the man, identified as Marrero, swiftly levels a black handgun and fires.
The victim, less than five feet from the handgun, spins as if to run but is blown off her feet by the blast, toppling stiff-legged into the grass without attempting to break the fall.
Screams fill the courtyard as children scatter. The gunman fires three more times into the distance, hitting the fleeing 15-year-old girl twice in the leg, according to police. A young man in a red T-shirt and tan trousers does not run, simply lowering his head and walking slowly toward the shooter, away from where the woman lay nearly motionless. The video operator also holds their ground, keeping the camera level. The video ends with the gunman lowering the weapon and trudging off camera.
Police said Marrero tossed the gun into bushes as he drove away. Officers caught up with him a short time later.
The video appears to contradict statements Marrero gave police. In court records, police said Marrero claimed to have been partially blinded by blood from wounds sustained during the incident and that he fired the gun while believing he was being rushed by up to 10 people.
The 15-year-old who was shot was treated and released from Juan F. Luis Hospital. Her mother, who was due in court July 31 to face assault and battery charges, underwent emergency surgery to repair damage to major organs, police said.
After an open-door therapy session with about 30 participants Saturday, counselors and victims’ advocates went door-to-door in the Candido Guadalupe community to help people cope with what they may have witnessed, said Human Services Department spokesperson Ryan O. Nugent.
Some fearful residents said they wanted to move out of the complex across the street from the Alfredo Andrews Elementary School, although historically, it wasn’t known to be a hotspot for crime, Nugent said.
“It’s had its level of problems but never like this,” he said. “People were very scared of the situation because a lot of people have kids and they don’t know if any retaliation was coming.”
What troubled Nugent most were the few people shown in the video who did not run or even seem to flinch when the shooting started.
“How could this be normalized for them? Some of the kids look at it like, it’s just another day,” he said.
Tamara Mohammed, clinical director and co-owner of Frederiksted-based counselors Greater Changes, said something important gets lost when a dispute lingers and intensifies. People stop seeing each other as humans, equally flawed and equally deserving of respect.
“It’s a lot easier to process conflict when we can recognize the human across from us,” Mohammed said.
The people she spoke with Saturday were grateful for the immediate response, even if they weren’t eager to reach out for support.
“What’s more important, especially for all the children that were involved and witnessed, is for people to identify what acute stress looks like in young children,” Mohammed said.
Children could express trauma in fits of crying, fearfulness, anxiety, clinginess and being overly attached to caregivers, unusual mood changes, irritability, aggression, changes in sleep or eating habits, inability to pay attention and decreased academic performance, changes in energy level, and more.
“A big one is avoidance, like trying to avoid specific areas that might remind them of the specific trauma,” she said. At just 200 feet wide and roughly 1,000 feet long, it may be difficult for children of the Candido Guadalupe Terrace Housing Development to avoid where the shooting happened.
Almost everyone Mohammed spoke with Saturday said they’d lost sleep over the fight and shooting. Sleep loss and increased anxiety were very common trauma responses in both adults and children, she said.
“I do think seeking professional help is something everyone should do,” she said. Failing that, she suggested people go out of their way to spend more quality time together. Leaning on friends and family for stability was important for people of all ages, Mohammed said.
Charged with assault, possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition within 100 feet of a school, reckless endangerment, child abuse, intentionally discharging a firearm, brandishing a deadly weapon, disturbing the peace by fighting, and instigating or aiding a fight, Marrero awaits his next court appearance in jail. At his advice of rights hearing on Friday in Superior Court on St. Croix, his bail was increased from $75,000 to $150,000 cash, and his arraignment was scheduled for July 24.
