The U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) has recorded 32 homicides so far in 2026, with 4 lives lost to gun violence in a matter of 3 days on St. Croix and St. Thomas.
On Sunday August 9th, the island of St Croix was shaken by an early morning homicide that claimed the lives of brothers 30-year-old Yordani Eduardo and 25-year-old Delli Eduardo. According to the VIPD, officers responded to reports of two gunshot victims in the vicinity of La Terraza Bar and Restaurant in Castle Coakley around 4:13 am. At the scene, they found one victim laying on the ground unresponsive, while the second victim was transported to the Juan Luis Hospital via private vehicle where he was subsequently pronounced dead.
The following day, St Croix recorded another homicide after 21-year-old Angel Rodriguez III was found unresponsive in a vehicle at the parking lot entrance of the Superior Court. According to the VIPD, Rodriguez was found with several gunshot wounds and was confirmed to have succumbed to his injuries by Emergency Medical Services.
On Tuesday, August 11th, 57-year-old Pernell Slaven Jr. was found unresponsive lying beneath a vehicle in the Hospital Ground area. According to the VIPD the gruesome discovery was made by a concerned citizen who alerted police. A statement from the VIPD confirmed that officers had responded to that area the previous night after the VIPD Shot Detection System alerted the 911 Emergency Call Center to multiple gunshots detected. However, inspections at the time did not find any victims or evidence of gunfire.
Slaven reportedly sustained multiple gunshot wounds and displayed no signs of life at the time of discovery.
Amid the mounting violence, St. Croix Police Chief Uston Cornelius has announced that the VIPD is executing Operation Rapid Response, an initiative intended to address violent crime and ultimately reduce the territory’s crime rate.
“In relation to the rising crime that we are observing, we have an operation dubbed ‘Operation Rapid Response’. That operation started in the latter part of June, and it is still ongoing. Thus far we have recovered four weapons, three arrests and a kilo of cocaine,” he said. “We’re using that initiative along with traffic doing what they have to do in terms of traffic stops and the Investigation Bureau also assisting on their end.”
“As we push forward with rapid response the end result would be a reduction because we are looking to include the traffic stop and all the different parts of the initiative and that will reduce dangerous incidents happening,” he added.