Man Gunned Down In Redbrick As Violence Continues To Mar St. Croix (Update)

UPDATE: According to new information provided by the VIPD, the victim has been identified as 28-year-old Allie Benjamin.

ORIGINAL STORY: ST. CROIX — Just after 5:00 p.m. today, a man was shot in the Redbrick Housing Community (D. Hamilton Jackson) — the same community that saw an eruption of gunfire on the evening of September 4 — near building 1, and succumbed to the wounds he sustained, police sources with direct knowledge of the incident have revealed to The Consortium.

The information was subsequently confirmed by VIPD Public Information Officer Kevin Jackson.

There are currently no leads on this latest incident, the sources say, but detectives — still on the scene when The  Consortium left the area — are continuing their investigations into the matter.

The homicide is the latest in a string of violent crimes that law enforcement here have been struggling to get a handle on.

It’s also the most recent incident in a rash of criminal activity that started with the homicide death of Jermaine “Bird” Williams on the afternoon of Friday, Sept. 4, which was followed by “hundreds of shots” being fired back-and-forth in the Red Brick/Water Gut area later the same day, according to Sen. Novelle Francis, a former police chief and police commissioner.

Multiple victims were injured during the gunfight, as ambulances rushed in and out of the close neighborhoods.

That same day at about 10:00 p.m., an attempted robbery at Napoleon’s Pizza in Peter’s Rest (video footage here), across from Cost-U-Less ended with shots being fired by both sides — the store’s owner and the suspects — and almost immediately following the incident, police responded to shots being fired in Campo Rico and Mon Bijou.

The following day, Dwayne “DMX” Woodrup was shot multiple times on Centerline Road near the Central High School, leaving the red Honda Civic he was driving riddled with bullet holes and Woodrup, who was airlifted out of the territory the same day in critical condition and “clinging to life,” according to VIPD Public Information Officer Kevin Jackson.

Following that incident, police responded to shots being fired in La Grande Princesse and Campo Rico, capping off a violent weekend here.

The criminal activity, however, did not stop. On September 10, a man was gunned down in the Shanty located in the Campo Rico community by unknown assailants, leaving his lifeless body slumped in the Black Isuzu Rodeo he was driving.

And there’s been other violent crime since the mentioned incidents, including a brazen attack on a couple, a man who died after being struck in the head with a rock, and the robbery at gunpoint of  individuals working on a tomb at the Kingshill Cemetery.

Lieutenant Governor, acting in his capacity as Governor while Governor Kenneth Mapp was away, declared a territory-wide state of emergency, but even those actions did not quell the violence. And if arrests are being made, the community remains in the dark about said arrests because no such information have been made available to the media.

Feature Image: Emergency medical services vehicle making its way through traffic in the Peter’s Rest area on Centerline Road (Queen Mary Highway), after a man was shot to death in the Redbrick Housing Community this afternoon.

Image Credit: VIC.