FREDERIKSTED — A St. Thomas man convicted of second-degree murder was himself shot dead near the KFC on King Street in Frederiksted town late Wednesday night.
Bradley “Hurtie” Maxwell, 44, of Charlotte Amalie, was positively identified by next of kin as the deceased, the Virgin Islands Police Department said.
Concerned citizens began calling the 911 Emergency Call Center to report the fatal shooting at 11:36 p.m. Wednesday, according to the VIPD.
Upon arriving on the scene, officers discovered an unresponsive black male lying in the middle of King Street in the vicinity of the KFC Restaurant, VIPD Communications Director Glen Dratte said.
EMS personnel arrived on the scene and determined that the victim, who had sustained several gunshots, had no vital signs, according to Dratte.
Maxwell was arrested in mid-October and charged with attempted extortion, harassment by telephone and disturbance of the peace by making threats, according to a probable cause fact sheet filed by Virgin Islands Police in Superior Court.
The owner of a towing service on St. Thomas filed a police complaint on October 1 in which he said Maxwell “was attempting to extort money from him and made credible threats” to his life, according to the sworn police affidavit. The man said he met Maxwell on September 10 through a friend, and Maxwell said he was unemployed but had driven trucks in the states, and asked if he could go on a ride-along and learn the towing business.
The victim reluctantly agreed, and also gave Maxwell $100 for a small menial job after he noted that Maxwell “didn’t even have money for lunch,” according to the fact sheet.
During the ride-along, the victim told police that Maxwell “was acting strangely,” and at one point he drew a handgun with an extended magazine that “appeared to have a conversion kit to make it a fully automatic weapon” that he’d had hidden in a bag, according to the fact sheet. “Maxwell then began talking through the closed window at the people on the street, saying: ‘These dudes don’t know how easy they could be dead.’”
The victim quickly made up an excuse to part ways with Maxwell, who returned to the victim’s home on Septenber 30 and demanded money to pay for vehicle damage caused in a collision, according to the fact sheet. The victim “asked what that has to do with him, and Maxwell stated that ‘the other driver was a ‘Frenchy’ like him, so now he has to pay for the damage.”
The victim noticed Maxwell had the handgun in his waistband, and retreated inside the home, according to the fact sheet. The victim said Maxwell continued calling him and “demanded half of everything he made,” and threatened his grandmother if he didn’t get $10,000.
Maxwell told the victim that if he didn’t pay, “he will have to ‘deal’ with him,” and the victim “recorded several of the calls and played them” for police, according to the fact sheet. In one of the calls, the victim “asks directly if Maxwell was ‘extorting him,’ and Maxwell said that he is.” Maxwell also told the victim he’d been convicted of murder.
This homicide is currently under active investigation. Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to contact the CIB Tip Line at 340-778-4950 or 340-712-6092. You can also send an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers USVI at 1-800-222-8477.