FREDERIKSTED — Two Golden Grove prison inmates accused of shanking two other inmates with a machete and a knife — causing “life-threatening injuries” were arrested on attempted murder charges this afternoon, authorities said.
42-year-old Hector Ramos and 23-year-old Manuel “Matatan” Davis, inmates at the Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility, were arrested and charged with 1st Degree Attempted Murder on February 23, at around 3:50 p.m. today, the Virgin Islands Police Department said.
The police investigation revealed earlier in that morning, Ramos and Davis worked together to assault two fellow inmates, causing life-threatening injuries to the men, according to the VIPD.
Allegedly, Ramos used a machete and Davis used a knife in the attack, and “subsequently hid the weapons to avoid being caught,” VIPD spokesman Toby Derima said.
According to Derima, “Ramos and Davis worked together to assault two fellow inmates, causing life-threatening injuries to the men. Allegedly, Ramos used a machete and Davis used a knife in the attack, and subsequently hid the weapons to avoid being caught.”
Bond was set at $75,000 each, and they were remanded back into the custody of the Virgin Islands Bureau of Corrections to await their advice-of-rights hearings.
Each man was in Golden Grove Adult Correctional Facility awaiting trial for violent assaults.
Ramos was arrested in July and charged with first-degree assault and several other crimes after a near-fatal stabbing in Barren Spot that occurred on April 13 at a grocery store.
Surveillance footage shows Ramos causing a disturbance and an employee asking him to calm down. As the employee walked away, Ramos pulled a box cutter from his backpack and attacked the employee from behind, according to an affidavit filed by police. The victim suffered serious wounds to his face that were “potentially life-threatening.”
All individuals listed as arrested or charged with a crime in this report based on an official police press release are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.