Prison escapee shot; two remain at large

~~Adz:Right~~ St. Croix, USVI – AFTER three inmates managed to escape from the Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility sometime Saturday (Sept. 20) morning, one was located and fatally shot that same night.

Dead is 19-year-old Edwardo Carmona Jr., after a slew of 911 calls alerted police to his presence in the Mon Bijou area early Saturday evening. According to reports in the VI Daily News, Carmona was shot once in the leg when he tried to evade capture.

After undergoing emergency surgery at Luis Hospital Saturday night, he succumbed to his injury and died early Sunday morning. At the time of his prison break, Carmona had been serving a life sentence after being convicted of first degree murder for the June, 2007 killing of Laurel Jeffers. He was also serving two individual 4-year prison terms for shooting incidents that occurred earlier that same year.

A spokeswoman for the VI Police Department informed that an investigation had been launched to determine how the three prisoners escaped. The Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility has been placed on ‘lock-down’ since the incident.

Derrick Fredericks, 38, of St. John, and Carlos Burgos, 33, of St. Croix remain at large and a $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the capture of each escapee.

Joining the Bureau of Corrections and the V.I. Police Department in the manhunt will be the U.S. Marshal Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Fredericks was serving a five-year sentence for second-degree burglary while Burgos was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder. Both are considered to be armed and dangerous.

Police officials are advising persons who may see the escapees not to approach the individuals but to report any sighting to 911 or the VI Police Department.