Man Shot Dead At Contant Strip Mall Identified As Puerto Rico Teenager

CHARLOTTE AMALIE — The Virgin Islands Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Bureau has identified the victim of the August 6 Estate Contant shooting as 19-year-old John Paul Pelaiz, a resident of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Detectives continue to urge anyone with information about this homicide to call 911, the Criminal Investigation Bureau at (340) 714-9830, or Crime Stoppers USVI at (800) 222-TIPS.

John F. McCarthy is a veteran journalist in the Caribbean, writing from the "Decision Space" where survival meets the surreal. His reporting steel was tempered by a lineage of legendary editors and broadcasters, including Ed Wynn Brant (The Bomb), Owen Eschenroder (Ann Arbor News), Lynelle Emanuel (BVI Beacon), and Charles Thanas (WSVI-TV). Alongside longtime colleague Kenneth C. "Casey" Clark, McCarthy has navigated the front lines of the territory’s history—from the 1997 volcanic "snow" to every major hurricane since Hugo. Known for leaning out of doorless helicopters to capture the "money shot," McCarthy now edits the V.I. Free Press, providing the essential link between the island's colonial past and its SpaceX future.