St. Croix Senator Diane Capehart and a companion were carjacked at gunpoint last night on the Melvin Evans Highway, the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency police blotter has revealed.
Capehart was noticeably shaken following the incident but there was no physical harm.
According to the police blotter, which holds records of calls made to emergency 911 dispatchers, police received a report at 8:12 p.m. of a robbery and carjacking on the highway near Hannah’s Rest.
Capehart and her friend were putting up campaign signs in the area for the November 4th General Election when two men approached them demanding their belongings. After handing over their cellphones and an undisclosed amount of cash, the suspects made away in Capehart’s navy blue 2013 Jeep Wrangler.
As they escaped, the suspects stopped to collect three other men who were ostensibly hiding in bushes a few feet up the road before heading east, police said.
The crime has been classified as a first degree robbery.
“While this could have happened to anyone out here, it is my colleague, and I am relieved that no one was physically harmed,” said Senator Gittens, chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security, Justice and Public Safety.
Police have issued an all-points bulletin for Senator Diane Capehart’s 2013 navy blue Jeep Wrangler, with licence plate number CEP 352 and Capehart campaign signs in the windows and Capehart stickers on the bumpers.
In response to the robbery of Senator Capehart, Police Commissioner Rodney Querrard Sr. issued a statement moments after midnight saying that he is suspending all in-house training and lifting overtime restrictions that are currently in place in an effort to increase police presence on the streets.
“Community safety is our first priority,” Querrard Sr. said.
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