CHARLOTTE AMALIE — Police are investigating after five people were injured and one person died after a shooting near a water delivery company on St. Thomas this afternoon.
The case began at 4:21 p.m., when Central Dispatch was alerted by the ShotSpotter detection system that multiple gunshots were fired near La Vega Watery Delivery and Heavy Equipment on Turpentine Run Road, the Virgin Islands Police Department said.
Responding police units traveled to the area of La Vega Water Delivery and discovered that six individuals sustained gunshot wounds. according to the VIPD.
One of the comments on Facebook just after the incident happened in real time.
“Emergency Medical Technicians made contact with one of the gunshot victims at the scene, an unresponsive black male, and concluded that the male did not have any vital signs,” VIPD spokeswoman Sakeeda Freeman said. “This male sustained multiple gunshot wounds about the body and was later identified by his next of kin as 35-year old Asymo Phipps.”
Three of the gunshot victims were transported to the Schneider Regional Medical Center via ambulance, and a fourth victim, a minor male was transported via private vehicle, according to Freeman.
“Contact was made with the sixth male victim who sustained injuries however he refused medical treatment,” she said.
In late May of 2016, Phipps sustained gunshot wounds to his arm, thigh, and hip as he was standing outside a grocery store in St. Thomas, police records show.
Anyone having any information about this incident is asked to please contact the Virgin Islands Police Department at 340-774-2211 or the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Major Crimes Division at 340-209-9627. You can also contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.