Feb 13, 2005 – With the two homicides reported this weekend, a disturbing trend continues. Violent crimes are coming to St. Croix in pairs. The homicide victims this weekend were David Lawrence, 24, on Friday and Valden Orlando Georges on Saturday. Both were victims of shootings, termed, by police spokesman Sgt. Thomas Hannah as probably "retaliatory" in nature.
Hannah said that Georges had been shot on St. Thomas in the fall of last year. He added that Lawrence had previous encounters with the police department.
Friday night a little after 9 p.m. many residents were leaving the festivities at the Christiansted Valentine Jump Up. When they reached the police station at the edge of town at the intersection of routes 70 and 75 in Richmond, they were greeted by sirens and policemen racing off in squad cars and on bicycles.
It appears, the officers were responding to the shooting death of Lawrence, also know as "Six-Pack," near his Hill Street home. Reportedly, Lawrence was accosted by several individuals before he was shot and taken to the hospital by friends. The friends left before police could question them.
Hannah said the shooting of Valden Orlando Georges of Estate Smithfield took place on Saturday about 7:10 p.m. in Estate Glynn in the vicinity of a cock-fighting pit. Georges was leaving the pit on foot when the shots that killed him were fired from a passing vehicle.
Hannah said he believed it was a targeted slaying.
This marks the fourth month in a row that St. Croix has experienced a spike in violent activity.
On Jan. 25 a homeless female was found murdered in Grove Place. Two days later a homeless male was found dead of a gunshot wound in Frederiksted.
On Dec. 18, 2004, a shooting occurred in Frederiksted leaving a female and an off-duty policeman injured. Later on the same day a young male was shot and killed in Estate Mt. Pleasant.
On a day in early November there were two unrelated shootings and two deaths.
The homicides this weekend mark the third and fourth homicides on St. Croix this year and brings the total to six in the territory.
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