FREDERIKSTED — Police are investigating after a man armed with a knife broke into a home and attacked family members inside, injuring one person, authorities said.
Nazari J. Hazel, 23, of Grove Place, was arrested and charged with first-degree burglary-domestic violence, third-degree assault, forcible & unlawful entry, possession of a dangerous weapon, and disturbance of the peace, the Virgin Islands Police Department said.
A female called the 911 Emergency Call Center at 7:23 p.m. on August 27, 2022 requesting assistance with her child’s father, Nazari Hazel, according to the VIPD.
The female victim reported that Hazel entered her residence without permission, police said.
“The victim said that while inside her home, a verbal altercation ensued between them, when he armed himself with a knife from her kitchen,” VIPD Communications Director Glen Dratte said. “Mr. Hazel then assaulted the victim and several other family members with the knife, causing visible injuries to her right hand.”
Members of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) arrested Hazel at the Wilbur H. Francis Command police station Friday for the two-and-a-half-month-old crime, according to Dratte.
Hazel provided a statement “admitting to entering the victim’s residence without her permission and assaulting her with a knife,” the police spokesman said.
No bail was set for Hazel as per the territory’s domestic violence laws.
He was transported to the John A. Bell Adult Correctional Facility pending an advice-of-rights hearing.
According to police records, Hazel was one of at least three men rounded up as part of “Operation Lock Them Up” in March 2020 for allegedly illegally discharging a firearm near Croixville Apartments in Grove Place on November 11, 2019.