A 12-gauge shotgun and a loaded 9 mm pistol were recovered Monday from the waters off the Vessup Bay dock on St. Thomas' East End, where a group of men fleeing police jumped into the water.
On Saturday when the five men were arrested, police recovered a .380-caliber handgun from the truck the men were riding in when they were stopped minutes after midnight. After a chase that ended at the Latitude 18 bar and restaurant with officers from the VIPD Special Operations Bureau pursuing them, several of the suspects jumped in the water, and one attempted a getaway by jumping into a docked dinghy.
Witnesses reported that four of the men wore dreadlocks, and the fifth had approached the establishment first, as if sizing it up, they said.
Law enforcement sources said Monday that the officers were conducting an anti-crime initiative on the East End after numerous complaints from residents of robberies and other crimes in their neighborhood.
A court hearing for the suspects, scheduled for Monday morning, was delayed until Tuesday. The five men remain in custody at the Bureau of Corrections on illegal firearms possession charges and in lieu of $25,000 bail each.
