CHARLOTTE AMALIE — In a scene that looked more like a low-budget action movie than a Tuesday morning in St. Thomas, a gang of burglars used a black SUV as a battering ram to smash their way into the Tutu Park Mall to loot the One Communications store.
The incident was part of a wider crime spree that hit St. Thomas in the pre-dawn hours of February 10, leaving the Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD) scrambling to connect the dots between at least four separate break-ins.
The Destruction at Tutu Park
According to VIPD reports, the 911 Emergency Call Center received a call at approximately 4:32 a.m. reporting a break-in at the One Communications store.
Investigators say a black SUV reversed multiple times at high speed into the stationary security poles at the mall’s main entrance. Once the path was cleared and the entrance compromised, four to five unidentified males stormed the store, specifically targeting and removing a large number of iPhones.
In their haste to escape, the crew literally left parts of their getaway vehicle behind; police recovered the SUV’s rear bumper at the scene. Notably, the bumper had no license tag attached. VIPD also indicated that the driver of the getaway vehicle may have been a female.
A Morning of Chaos
The Tutu Park heist was the grand finale in a string of commercial burglaries that began just after midnight:
- 3:20 a.m.: Two males armed with a hammer and a drill forced their way into Goldland Jewelry on Main Street.
- 4:23 a.m.: Intruders hit Duffy’s Love Shack, accessing the cash register before fleeing in a dark-colored SUV.
The “High-Tech” Disconnect
While local business owners are left mopping up shattered glass and tallying losses, the irony isn’t lost on residents that while Elon Musk is busy perfecting self-driving Teslas and reusable rockets, we’re still struggling with criminals using 20-year-old SUVs to drive through front doors. One can only wonder if Musk’s rumored “unbreakable” Cybertruck windows would have fared better against a St. Thomas “ram-raid.”
CALL TO ACTION: VIPD is urging anyone with information to contact the Investigation Bureau at 340-774-2211, or call 911. You can also submit anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers V.I. at 1-800-222-8477.
SIDEBAR: ST. THOMAS CRIME WAVE – FOUR HOURS OF CHAOS
The ram-raid at Tutu Park Mall was not an isolated incident. Between midnight and sunrise on Tuesday, the St. Thomas district was rocked by a series of brazen commercial burglaries and an armed robbery, suggesting a coordinated or highly opportunistic “crime wave.”
Timeline of Events (February 10, 2026):
- 2:36 a.m. | Mandela Circle: The violence began with an armed robbery. Three masked men dressed in black exited a vehicle and held a victim at gunpoint as he walked to his car after leaving a nearby nightclub. The suspects fled with several pieces of the victim’s jewelry.
- 3:20 a.m. | Goldland Jewelry, Main Street: Just an hour later, two suspects forcefully entered the downtown jewelry store. Surveillance footage captured one suspect armed with a hammer and the other with a power drill. They cleared out several display cases before fleeing when the store’s alarm was triggered.
- 4:23 a.m. | Duffy’s Love Shack, Red Hook: The spree moved to the East End. The manager of the iconic Red Hook eatery was alerted by an alarm company and watched on live camera as two individuals entered the bar and raided the cash register. They were seen fleeing in a dark-colored SUV.
- 4:32 a.m. | One Communications, Tutu Park Mall: Less than ten minutes after the Duffy’s break-in, the black SUV arrived at Tutu Park, utilizing its reverse gear as a battering ram to breach the mall’s entrance and loot the telecom store.
The “Getaway” Connection? While VIPD has not officially confirmed the crimes are linked, the use of a dark-colored SUV in the Duffy’s and One Communications incidents—and the report of three masked men in a vehicle at Mandela Circle—has investigators looking for a common thread. The recovery of a rear bumper at the mall provides the first physical evidence in what has become one of the busiest mornings for the VIPD in recent memory.
Elon Musk’s self-driving fleet might have trouble navigating the potholes on Weymouth Rhymer Highway, but local authorities are currently more concerned with a much less sophisticated vehicle causing massive damage to the island’s business community.
