Bullet Lodges In Man’s Pelvis After Being Shot In St. Thomas

ST. CROIX — A St. Thomas man was shot on Monday night while driving on the Brookman Road, V.I.P.D. Media Specialist Sakeeda Freeman announced Tuesday.

The victim, age 43, told police that while driving on the aforementioned road at about 10:45 p.m., he heard several shots fired, and started to feel a burning sensation on his left side. Moments later the victim realized that he was shot, Ms. Freeman said.

He was rushed to the Schneider Regional Medical Center for treatment by a family member, where it was discovered that he was struck with a single bullet, which was lodged in his pelvis. Ms. Freeman said the victim was kept at the hospital for further treatment to his injury.

A gunshot wound to the hip can be life-threatening because there are many important structures in that area of that body that could be injured.

“There are a lot of arteries and vital organs that live either in the hip, or in the pelvis [area] itself,” said Dr. David Evans, an associate professor of surgery at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. These include the iliac arteries, which are major arteries that carry blood from the torso to the legs, as well as organs such as the bladder, rectum and reproductive organs, Dr. Evans said. A bullet could also cause bone fractures in the hip or pelvis.

One of the first things that a surgeon would determine when treating a patient with a bullet wound to the hip is which direction the bullet traveled across the body, Dr. Evans said. Doctors may use X-rays or look for an exit wound to determine the bullet’s trajectory. If the bullet traveled down the leg, doctors would be worried about injuries to the femoral artery, a large artery in the thigh, which could cause major bleeding.

If the bullet traveled across the hip and entered the pelvis, doctors would typically operate to determine exactly which organs or arteries were injured, he said.

The V.I.P.D. is asking anyone with knowledge of what occurred, to contact the Criminal Investigation Bureau at (340) 714-9801, or Crime Stoppers USVI here.