CHARLOTTE AMALIE — Police say they don’t know how many suspects robbed the Home Depot at gunpoint on St. Thomas on Saturday night or how much money was taken during the robbery.
Home Depot store employees were held hostage during the armed robbery incident, but police said that they also do not know how many employees were in the store at the time.
The 911 Emergency Call Center got a notification of a robbery in progress at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and the Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD) was dispatched to the scene at 1-2 Donoe Road.
As police arrived on the scene, they saw the suspects running away to a waiting vehicle.
The suspects opened fire on the officers, and despite police saying they returned fire, no one was hit on either side.
The errant shots were enough to keep the police from pursuing the suspects and police could not say how many people were shooting at them as they were ducking for cover.
A source close to the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the robbers conspired with one or more Home Depot employees as to what day of the week had the most cash receipts and where the cameras are positioned in the store and which ones are working after the hurricanes.