SK Youth Charged in Cop’s Killing in USVI

By L.K. Hewlett
Editor-SKNVibes.com

(Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas) -  A 25-year-old native of St. Kitts is awaiting trial, having been charged in the ‘broad daylight’ shooting death of Officer Ariel Frett on Feb. 8, 2007 on Bjerge Gade.

Jermaine Paris, who was born in St. Kitts but migrated to St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands as a small child, has been charged as an accomplice in the murder of the veteran police officer.

Paris was first arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, but saw the charges reduced after prosecutors said the evidence supported the fact that Paris’ younger brother Basheem Ford was the actual gunman who killed the 52-year-old policeman.

Paris was on the lam for three days following the shooting but turned himself in to the authorities three days later, accompanied by his mother and attorney.

Ford was 17 years old at the time of the incident and was shot several times by off-duty police officer Lorne Clark. He spent a week in Schneider Hospital before his initial arrested as a minor on February 15.

Paris faced charges of aiding and abetting voluntary manslaughter, third-degree assault and weapons offenses but last Friday he saw those charges increased by a V.I. Superior Court judge to aiding and abetting first-degree murder, aiding and abetting second-degree murder, unauthorized use of a firearm in a second-degree murder, first-degree assault and unauthorized use of a firearm in the commission of a crime.  ~~Adz:Right~~

Paris' now 18-year-old brother Ford faces charges of first-degree murder and unauthorized possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence. He has since entered a plea of ‘Not Guilty’ and requested a jury trial.

On Saturday, however, Paris was arrested a second time after police said they found him with a handgun following a disturbance at a Raadets Gade bar.

The .45-caliber gun allegedly found in Paris’ possession was sent to the FBI for testing to determine if the gun and casings match the spent shells recovered at the scene of where Frett was shot.

Sources close to the family are claiming that police officers ‘planted’ the gun on Paris and beat him severely when they arrested him.