KINGSHILL — Police were scrambling to solve two homicides that happened in 10 hours at Bethlehem Village in St. Croix on Wednesday.
Jose “Eggie” Berrios, 47, found dead in the last housing parking lot of what is known as “Harvey Project-Machuchal” in Estate Profit, was positively identified by next of kin as the deceased, the Virgin Islands Police Department said.
On Wednesday, August 24, 2022, the 911 Emergency Call Center received a call at 7:45 p.m., of shots fired and a man down in Bethlehem Village-Harvey Project, near “the last parking lot” and the Building 88 staircase, according to the VIPD.
“Officers traveled to the area and observed the victim with multiple gunshot wounds to his body,” VIPD Communications Director Glen Dratte said.
EMS arrived on the scene and was unable to find a pulse on Berrios, police said. The officer had succumbed to his injuries sustained from the gunshot wounds.
“Preliminary investigation reveals the victim was leaving a family member’s apartment when an individual ambushed him discharging multiple bullets at the victim using a high-powered rifle,” according to Dratte.
Berrio’s murder was the second at Harvey Project within a 10-hour space of time on Wednesday.
Jorge Luis Saldana was shot multiple times Wednesday morning at Bethlehem Village and died later that afternoon at the Juan F. Luis Hospital.
DPNR spokesman Jamal Nielsen denied Berrios worked for the Department of Planning and Natural Resources at the time of his death.
Meanwhile, the tributes to Berrios continued to pour in on social media last night and today after the news of his death spread throughout the island.
“Terrible news,” Maria Del Mar Quinones said on Facebook. “Condolences to the Berrios family and everyone else who knew and loved him. R.I.P. Eggy. Feels like one thing happen and that is not enough, the tragedy must be compounded. Good people, of STX specifically, please talk to the men in your lives. Talk them find out what’s weighing on them. Maybe hearing, but that was your partnah why ayo vex? Or whatever to de-escalate bad-blood and get them thinking of better ways to communicate. Because I don’t see why men at work or getting home from work or closing up a business, end up dead on the ground. Life is hard enough. Stop this nonsense. Talk to your people, talk them down from violence and anger. Talk to your people, lift them up, we all have a purpose in life and it cannot be this. Burying men, jailing men. When their children need them, their women love them and their mothers and fathers pray for them. This makes me so sad 
and even more worried for the children of the world, because it is every where, but stx is so small, why can’t we have peace here?”
The shooting is part of an ongoing investigation, CIB Detectives are asking anyone with information to call 911, CIB Tip-Line at 340-778-4850 or Crime Stopper s VI at 1-800-222-8477.