ST. CROIX — Two men accustomed of hanging out at the Estate La Reine Vegetable Market got into an altercation this afternoon which ended with the death of one of the men, V.I.P.D. Commissioner Delroy Richards confirmed to The Consortium late Tuesday.
The commissioner said he received a call from 911 at about 4:21 p.m. notifying him of the incident. Mr. Richards said preliminary investigation revealed that the men got into an altercation, one of them allegedly picked up a piece of two-by-four wood and struck the other. Then, the man who was struck with the piece of two-by-four allegedly retaliated by breaking a bottle and stabbing the other man in the chest with it.
“They ran across the street to the police station and one collapsed outside and the other one turned himself in,” Mr. Richards said. The man who was stabbed in the chest succumbed to his injuries, according to the commissioner.
A Consortium reporter on the scene witnessed police officers cordoning off the area as onlookers gazed at the scene. An ambulance as well as a Fire Service vehicle was also on the scene. Emergency medical technicians examined the body of the stabbed victim and found no signs of life.
The commissioner noted that this latest incident where an argument turned deadly was the second such homicide for the year on St. Croix. Three days ago a man was stabbed to death over a broken windshield, according to police.
Mr. Richards said the suspect who turned himself in is currently in custody, and will either face a second-degree murder or manslaughter charge. “Either way it’s a fight. It’s either murder-second or manslaughter,” he said. The suspect was being held at the Estate La Reine police command center, called Ann Schrader Command, Zone A.
Tags: homicide, st croix, stabbing
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