MID-ISLAND ST. CROIX — An off-duty Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD) officer and his female companion were shot in the vehicle he was driving by three men who robbed them of cash.
The incident took place before 10:30 a.m. in broad daylight on the Northside Road near Villa La Reine Shopping Center and police did not name the officer involved.
A black vehicle with heavily-tinted windows approached their Jeep SUV and brought the officer’s private vehicle to a stop, when three suspects robbed the pair and then shot them.
The officer was shot in the leg, while his female companion sustained a gunshot wound to the upper body.
The two were in stable condition at the Juan F. Luis Hospital yesterday.
All three suspects were carrying firearms during the robbery and one brandished an assault weapon.
The amount of cash stolen from the officer and the woman with him was not disclosed.
The incident took place about 100 feet south of the shopping center on the service road that connects the Queen Mary Highway to the Melvin Evans Highway.
The last time someone was shot in the territory was at Kirwan Terrace during an attempted carjacking on Oct. 24.