KINGSHILL — Virgin Islands Attorney General nominee Gordon C. Rhea announced today that Jiovani Smith, 24, was sentenced for the killing of Selena Chitolie in 2020.
Virgin Islands Superior Court Judge Alfonso Andrews Jr. imposed a 30-year prison term on Smith for second-degree homicide.
On May 15, 2020, Smith, along with several other men, followed and shot at a family who was driving through the area in search of housing. The shooting resulted in the death of 19-year-old Selena Chitolie.
Her mother, Nissa Camacho who was also shot, still carries a bullet fragment in her neck.
VIDOJ mug shot of Giovani Smith, 24, of St. Croix.
Earlier this year, Smith pleaded guilty to the crime, along with one of the other two men involved, Calijah Brewley, who is awaiting sentencing.
The third man, Jerome Wallace, is still awaiting trial.
According to a police affidavit, Camacho reported that she and her two children were driving through the Mount Pleasant area of Frederiksted St. Croix, in search of a rental home.
She described hearing multiple gunshots and noticing dust rising around their vehicle as they approached the Evelyn M. Williams Elementary School.
Camacho said she then realized that her daughter, Chitolie, the driver of their car, had been shot.
She recalled seeing a slender black male emerge from the front passenger side of a silver four-door Ford Focus, armed with a long gun, and firing at their vehicle.
Chitolie sustained a gunshot wound to the back of her neck and was airlifted for further treatment,
where she later succumbed to her injuries.
Camacho, who was the front seat passenger, was also shot in the neck, but survived.