At about 9:37 Sunday evening, 23-year-old Julio Alfredo Cruz was gunned down in Frederiksted across from the Vegetable Market on Queen Street, according to the V.I. Police Department.
Police responding to the scene found Cruz, a Williams Delight resident, lying motionless in the road with multiple gunshot wounds and no vital signs, VIPD Public Information Officer Melody Rames said Monday afternoon.
As police searched for witnesses, the crowd of residents that gathered at the scene became hostile and jeered police, which impeded the initial investigation, according to Rames.
"Basically there was no cooperation," she said. Police secured the scene, collecting several spent shell casings and other physical evidence, she said.
Anyone with information that may help to solve this crime can call St. Croix Police Chief Chris Howell’s office at 340-712-6005, the detectives at 340-712-6067 or 340-712-6037, or the anonymous tip service, Crime Stoppers USVI, at 1-800-222-TIPS.
Sunday’s shooting was the 12th homicide in the territory in 2011, the seventh on St. Croix. By the end of March in 2010 there had been 20 homicides in the territory and 11 on St. Croix.
“As police searched for witnesses, the crowd of residents that gathered at the scene became hostile and jeered police, which impeded the initial investigation, according to Rames.”
You who live in Freedom City make a mockery of its name and your hostility to justice shall keep you prisoners of violent crime whose thugs will kill you on the streets as easily as the fish caught at the fish market. The Cruise ships are passing you by for safer ports o call. Can you figure that out. I don’t think so. Your silence protects the murderous garbage who keep you prisoners inside your Freedom City.