Police Identify Man Who Shot Himself In Neighbor’s Yard In Barren Spot

ST. CROIX — A Barren Spot man is said to have shot himself on Saturday morning in someone else’s yard in Barren Spot, in what the Virgin Islands Police Department is classifying as a suicide, V.I.P.D. Public Information Officer Glen Dratte announced Saturday afternoon.

The call reporting the incident to the 911 emergency call center came in at about 7:35 a.m., according to Mr. Dratte. Upon officers arrival to the scene, they discovered an unresponsive male on the ground in the rear of the yard with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

The victim was identified by his brother as Linton Eddy, 43, according to police.

The suicide incident occurred in the yard of Daniel Joseph, known as “Joe Can Cook”, the name of a food van that Mr. Daniel has operated on the corner near the Barren Sport shopping center for years. Mr. Joseph, a friend and neighbor of Mr. Eddy, said the deceased came to his yard early this morning at about 7:20, while Mr. Joseph was preparing utensils before he headed out with his food van.

“I witnessed something today that I never wanted to witness; I am traumatized all now,” Mr. Joseph said.

Describing what took place, Mr. Joseph said Mr. Eddy knocked on the window of his kitchen where Mr. Joseph was preparing the utensils, and called his name once. Mr. Joseph told Mr. Eddy that he was making arrangements to leave the house. Mr. Eddy called out to Mr. Joseph once more, this time with a gun pointed to his own head, according to Mr. Joseph. The victim’s final words were, “dead, dead, dead,” at which point he shot himself in the head, Mr. Joseph said.

In shock at what had just occurred, Mr. Joseph said he began to scream and call out to neighbors. Mr. Joseph’s nephew came out the house and asked what had happened. Mr. Joseph said he immediately ordered the young man to call 911. When an ambulance had no arrived quickly enough, Mr. Joseph said he told his nephew to drive to the police station in Villa La Reine, which is near Barren Spot, to file a report.

“It was not nice to see that,” Mr. Joseph said of the incident. A former police officer on the island on Dominica, Mr. Joseph said he was no stranger to violent incidents, but he had never witness something as upsetting as what took place in his own yard this morning.

Police conducted a search in Mr. Eddy’s home looking for suicidal clues, but none was found, according to Mr. Dratte. However, detectives did find an indoor marijuana farm in Mr. Eddy’s home, which was confiscated by police, Mr. Dratte said.

Correction: July 29, 2017 (7:16 p.m.)

A previous version of this story, because of a text error, incorrectly stated that police ruled the incident as a homicide. The incident has been ruled by the V.I.P.D. as a suicide. The story has been updated to reflect the correct information.