Gittens: I’m Outraged And Disgusted By Daylight Shooting In Charlotte Amalie

ST. THOMAS – A St. Croix senator said today’s broad daylight shooting of 34-year-old Shane Heyliger in one of the most heavily traveled areas of the downtown Charlotte Amalie waterfront area is evidence that “gun-toting criminals have a total disregard for human life.”

“Minutes after this shooting took place I was notified and was without words, knowing that this took place in an area that is not only in close proximity to several private businesses and government offices, but also in an area where there is very high pedestrian traffic at that time of the morning as people are walking to and from their jobs and running errand,” Gittens said. “It was my immediate silent prayer that no innocent lives were lost as a result.”

Heyliger became the territory’s 15th homicide victim – the ninth on St. Thomas – when he was gunned down at 9:38 a.m. on Veteran’s Drive near First Express and Burger Maxx. Gittens encouraged people with information about the shooting to cooperate with police.

He added that the success of the federal-territorial partnership in fighting crime during Carnival suggests that it should become “a permanent fixture.”

“I’ve been calling for collaberation between the local and federal entities and supplemental manpower for the Virgin Islands Police Department for some time now,” Gittens said. “We saw just how well this joint policing worked during Carnival and there is no reason why we should drop our guards and go back to business as usual, knowing that our issues with crime and violence still exists.”