Update: Suspect held after seventh murder
Police have confirmed an earlier BVI News Online report that a person of interest has been taken into custody in relation to the fatal shooting of David ‘Mooney’ Springette.
Highly placed BVI News Online sources said the suspect is a native of St Kitts and Nevis, and a resident of Long Look.
He was nabbed during a police operation overnight.
According to the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF), Springette was shot close to midnight on Wednesday, June 21, in East End.
“A doctor in the immediate area was summoned to the area [of the shooting], and there he pronounced Springette dead. The deceased family and the Coroner were informed,” said the RVIPF.
It added, “One person of interest is presently in custody assisting members of the Major Investigation Team with investigation; and a number of searches have been conducted.”
Highly placed sources told BVI News Online that the victim and other persons were in the vicinity of a business establishment, when a gunman wearing black hoodie showed up and fired a number of shots, hitting Springette.
The gunman then escaped on foot in the area.
Springette previously escaped at least two other attempts on his life. His last escape was on December 12 last year when a gunman shot him near The Stickett in the Long Look area.
Essadro Jefferson of Long Look was charged with the attempted murder. Jefferson however is not the suspect held in relation to the murder last evening.
Since the start of the year, the territory’s murder rate has reached seven. The population is made up of roughly 30,000.
The other six persons murdered this year were: Alston Penn, Franklyn Fahie, Jefferson Joseph, Ashburn Dawson, Shaun Richards, and Sherika Nelson. Nelson was butchered earlier this month.
The gun was the weapon of choice in five of the seven murders committed this year.
Since the year 2008, when nine people were murdered in the British Virgin Islands, the murder rate had not passed four in any given year.
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