John McCarthy
FREDERIKSTED — Police are investigating a double homicide late Saturday night near a bar on Queen Street in Frederiksted Town on St. Croix.
Juan Rexach-Ramos, 53, and Daniym “Paka” Heywood, 28, each of St. Croix, have been positively identified by family members as the deceased individuals, the Virgin Islands Police Department said.
The ShotSpotter detection system alerted police to multiple gunshots on Queen Street in Frederiksted at 11:48 p.m. on February 1, according to the VIPD.
Officers responding to the crime scene saw “several spent shell casings, multiple vehicles with bullet holes, and the body of a deceased male who was seated on a chair near Yolanda’s Bar,” VIPD spokeswoman Kishma Chichester said.
REST IN PEACE: Daniym “Paka” Heywood, 28, of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
That male was identified at the scene by next of kin as Rexach-Ramos, according to Chichester.
Minutes after, 911 Emergency Call Center reported that there was an injured male who was transported from the scene of the shooting on Queen Street and succumbed to his injuries at the Juan Luis Hospital Emergency Room, police said.
That individual was identified by next of kin as Heywood, according to police.
Eyewitnesses said they heard an intense barrage of semi-automatic gunfire on Queen Street just before midnight on Saturday. Then a brief pause, when five or six gunshots could be heard fired in a more deliberate fashion.
The deaths mark the territory’s fourth and fifth homicides reported so far this year, including three on St. Croix and two on St. Thomas.
There have been at least six shooting deaths in the U.S. Virgin Islands in first 32 days of 2025, including an officer-involved killing at Lorraine Village Apartments in St. Croix on January 5.
This case remains under active investigation. Criminal Investigation Bureau Detectives are asking anyone with information about this shooting to call 911 or the CIB tip line at 340-778-4850, or Crime Stoppers USVI at 1-800-222-8477.
