A man was shot and killed Thursday afternoon on St. Croix, bringing the island’s total to two homicides for 2023, the V.I. Police Department reported.
The 911 Call Center received notification around 4:38 p.m. that a man was down at 105L Whim. When the police arrived at the scene, they discovered an unresponsive man lying on the ground in front of the house, according to the police report.
The victim has been identified as 31-year-old Akeem A. Javois, it said.
An investigation revealed that Javois came to the house of the suspect. A verbal exchange occurred between the two and the suspect discharged his unlicensed firearm, striking Javois once and killing him, the police report stated.
The suspect, Amos Matthew, 46, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, unauthorized possession of a firearm, and aiming and pointing of a firearm, the report stated.
His bail was set at $1 million. Unable to post bond, he was remanded to the John Bell Adult Correctional Facility pending his advice of rights hearing on Friday, police said.
Javois’ death marks the second homicide on St. Croix and the ninth for the territory, according to the 2023 Source Homicide List*.
*The Source Homicide List is a chronological log of the homicides recorded in 2023 in the U.S. Virgin Islands, as reported by the VIPD. Cases are broken down by island. While this listing is based on VIPD reports, the Source does not include suicides or vehicular homicides in its listing, which the police and some other media do. This can lead to a discrepancy in the number of incidents reported.