By: Virgin Islands Free Press News Desk
ST. CROIX — When the sound of gunfire rang out Monday morning in a parking area serving the R.H. Amphlett Leader Justice Center in Kingshill, it marked more than just the island’s 18th homicide of the year. It brought an abrupt, violent end to a judicial sequence that was supposed to culminate inside a courtroom just steps away.
The victim, 21-year-old Angel “Two Bricks” Rodriguez III, was not in Kingshill by coincidence on Monday. Court records confirm he was formally listed on the morning docket for a 9:00 a.m. calendar call before Superior Court Judge Venetia Harvey Velazquez—a proceeding that routinely requires defendants to remain on standby at the justice complex into the afternoon, prior to the 2:06 p.m. shooting.
Instead, Rodriguez was fatally shot inside a vehicle before he could ever step up to the Defendant dock.
The October Arrest and the Plea Agreement
The charges against Rodriguez stemmed from an October 14, 2025, incident at the Suds and Duds Laundromat in Peter’s Rest. According to a police probable cause fact sheet, officers responded to a 911 call reporting a man openly carrying a firearm. Upon arrival, police detained Rodriguez after he attempted to flee the laundromat.
A search revealed a 9mm Glock 19 equipped with an automatic sear chip—a device that converts a semi-automatic handgun into a fully automatic weapon. The firearm contained a total of 19 live rounds, with a second loaded magazine discovered on his person. At the time of his arrest, police noted Rodriguez had no prior criminal record on file.
On June 18, 2026, Rodriguez signed a formal plea agreement with the Office of the Attorney General, agreeing to plead guilty to one count of unauthorized carrying of a firearm. In exchange, the government agreed to dismiss the remaining counts and recommended a 10-year suspended sentence with two years of supervised probation. Monday morning was set to close that legal chapter.
A Parallel Judicial Timeline
The tragic outcome outside the courthouse highlights a deeply unsettling trend currently confronting the St. Croix community: the rapid, violent intersection of high-stakes court dockets and street retaliation.
Just 24 hours prior to Rodriguez’s death, a fatal shooting in Castle Coakley took the lives of Delli and Yordani Eduardo. The timeline of that case closely mirrored Monday’s events, following a judicial path through the exact same court division.
In the Eduardo matter (Case No. SX-2026-CR-00080), felony charges were dismissed without prejudice by Judge Velazquez on July 6, 2026. Exactly 34 days after his release from custody, Eduardo was killed in Castle Coakley—a stark 34-day window between a courtroom dismissal and a fatal shooting.
In Rodriguez’s case, the timeline was cut short not after a dismissal, but hours before a formal sentencing could be entered into the record.
Systemic Questions and Community Impact
While the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) continues to pursue leads and investigate whether these recent incidents are directly linked, the structural overlap between the two cases has drawn intense public scrutiny.
Both matters involved serious firearm charges moving through the Superior Court. Both involved young men whose legal cases were overseen by the same judicial officer. And both ended in tragedy before the formal administration of justice could fully run its course.
As law enforcement appeals to the public for information on both homicides, the community is left grappling with the reality of daylight violence reaching the perimeter of the island’s primary judicial compound. For the residents of St. Croix, the immediate concern isn’t the high cost of living—it is ensuring that the process of law can take place safely within the walls of its own courthouses.
The Virgin Islands Police Department urges anyone with information regarding the shooting outside the Superior Court or the Castle Coakley incident to contact the CIB or Crime Stoppers VI.
Compressed Timeline: 24 Hours to Live
The two violent events unfolded across consecutive days in August 2026:
- Sunday, August 9, 2026 (approx. 4:13 AM): The shooting in Castle Coakley near La Terraza Bar and Restaurant took the lives of 25-year-old Delli Eduardo and his 30-year-old brother, Yordani Eduardo.
- Monday, August 10, 2026 (approx. 2:06 PM): Angel “Two Bricks” Rodriguez III was killed in his vehicle at the parking area entrance of the Superior Court compound in Kingshill—roughly 34 hours after the Castle Coakley double homicide.