Saint Lucian shot and killed in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Jurvelle Felixien (Photos: Facebook)

(SNO) — The Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD) is investigating the homicide case of 17-year-old Saint Lucian Jurvelle Marquell Felixien, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands (USVI), earlier this month.

To date, there have been no reports of arrests, as Felixien’s relatives and friends in the Virgin Islands and Saint Lucia try to come to grips with his tragic death. He would have celebrated his 18th birthday on February 13.

“That day is slowly approaching … Just like That cuz… Not one family get together goes by and we’re not together…. How will another family get together turn out… Life is unfair,” one person wrote on Felixien’s timeline.

“Boy cuz…..I just cah understandwe all have to go someday…but the way u gonecuz go easy…death has done us apart until we meet again,” another wrote.

According to the VIPD in a press release, on January 8, 2019, at approximately 10:46 a.m., a call came into 911 of a discharging of gunshots in Estate Whim in Frederiksted (St. Croix).

Officers responded and discovered an unresponsive male individual lying on the roadway with his bicycle, police said. The VI Consortium newspaper reported that the victim was “lying on the ground on his back, with his feet still on the pedal of the bicycle”.

Police said preliminary investigation revealed that Felixien was riding his bicycle when a vehicle approached at a high rate of speed, discharging shots at him.

“Medical attendants on the scene were unable to find vital signs on the victim. He was transported to the Juan F. Luis Hospital Morgue,” police added.

There have been reports indicating a motive for the killing, but a source in St. Croix said detectives are probing reports that the shooting may be gang-related.

Felixien’s killing is the third homicide in the USVI for 2019. To date, five persons have been killed in the USVI, with all the cases occurring on St. Croix, according to media reports. The fifth killing was that of a Dominican Republic businesswoman who was gunned down last Thursday night by a lone masked assailant while she was serving customers at her bar, media reports have stated.

Meanwhile, funeral preparations are underway for Felixien who is scheduled to be buried on February 2 in the USVI, a relative told St. Lucia News Online.

Felixien, also known as Joe, had resided in Morne Du Don, Castries and was a former student of Bocage Secondary.

He travelled to St. Croix in 2017, according to reports.