Weekend gun violence claims four lives

~~Adz:Left~~ST. THOMAS, U.S.V.I. - A spate of shootings occurring on St. Thomas and St. Croix over this past weekend has left four persons dead and police seeking the public’s assistance in the form of information about the incidents.

On St. Thomas, an unidentified male was found dead between two apartment buildings in the Oswald Harris Court housing community around 8 last Friday evening. The man had received one gunshot to his body which was listed as the cause of death.

Two days later, police made a gruesome discovery in an abandoned Smith Bay house. A partially decomposed male corpse exhibiting several gunshot wounds lay on a bed in the structure. The man appeared to have been shot at least a couple of days before his body was discovered but no official time of death was given.

St. Croix also experienced its share of the gun violence as on Sunday, Emelda Wells of JFK housing community was shot to death in the parking lot of a Castle Coakley nightclub sometime after 4 a.m. Police reports indicated that Wells and another person sat in a car outside the nightspot and were approached by an unspecified number of assailants who then shot the female in the face.

Police on St. Thomas are also investigating another murder involving a yet identified male. According to a police release, late Monday night dispatchers received reports of shots being fired in the vicinity of the Labor Department, Kronprindsens Gade.

On Tuesday morning police discovered a body which had several gunshot wounds. An unspecified number of spent bullet cartridges were also found on the ground around the dead man.

Police asked that anyone with information about the homicides or other criminal activity call the Investigation Bureau at 340-715-5554, the Chief's Office at 340-715-5548.