Two people are dead and two were taken to hospital after a shooting Wednesday night at Four Winds Plaza on St. Thomas that Police Chief Steven Phillip called senseless and disturbing.
The victims have been identified as Lamar Richardson, 29, and Randy John Baptiste, 33, the V.I. Police Department reported Thursday morning. Two others were found with gunshots at the scene and taken to Schneider Regional Medical Center for treatment, police said.
“Our condolences go out to the family, friends and loved ones who have been impacted by gun violence,” Phillip said in a statement. “These senseless killings continue to be a huge problem in our communities. It’s very disturbing; in these incidents nobody wins, but the family of the victims lose.”
Wednesday’s shootings are the latest in a string of violence, including a midday shooting Monday at Brewers Beach on St. Thomas that left Rudy Bridges, 41, dead. On July 4, Miguel Marrero, 52, opened fire on a neighbor and her daughter in an ongoing dispute at the Candido Guadalupe Terrace housing community on St. Croix, injuring both, according to police and court documents.
The deaths of Richardson and Baptiste mark the territory’s 16th and 17th homicides of 2024, and bring the tally on St. Thomas to 12 dead from violence this year, according to the Source Homicide List.*
Citizens called 911 starting around 9:33 p.m. Wednesday to report several shots fired in the area of Four Winds Plaza, police said. They then reported that there were at least two individuals shot and down at that location.
VIPD and other law enforcement agencies responded and discovered two unresponsive men lying in the plaza, located just north of Tutu Park Mall. They appeared to have suffered multiple gunshot wounds, police reported. Emergency Medical Technicians checked both victims for signs of life and at 11:53 p.m., concluded that both had died, they said.
While on the scene officers learned that two other victims were transported to Schneider Regional Medical Center for immediate medical attention, the VIPD reported.
Phillip strongly emphasized the efforts being made to address violence in the community, saying, “We are constantly researching effective violence reduction strategies to keep our communities safe.”
However, the VIPD needs the community’s help to do so, he stressed.
“We are asking you, the community, for your continued support in this fight against crime in our community,” Phillip said.
Anyone with any information about this incident should contact the V.I. Police Department at 340-774-2211, the Criminal Investigation Unit’s Major Crimes Division at 340-642-8449, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-Tips (8477), or 911.
* The Source Homicide List is a chronological log of the homicides recorded in 2024 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.
