Sept. 1, 2002 — The Labor Day weekend got off to a violent start on St. Thomas, with three shootings and one murder in two days. The string of incidents follows two murders on St. Croix last week.
On Sunday, police responded to reports that a man was abducted and shot in downtown Charlotte Amalie. Deputy Chief of Police Theodore Carty said the victim, Travis Poleon, 21 of Garden Street, was found in the Agnes Fancy area bleeding from the leg. Several citizens called police, Carty said, after Poleon's attackers apparently abducted him from the general area of the Holiday Inn Windward Passage Hotel and shot him as he attempted to flee.
Carty said police made contact with Poleon on the porch of a house in the Agnes Fancy area. Gunshot wounds were apparent to Poleon's legs and he suffered head injuries. Hospital officials pronounced him dead at 4:16 p.m. Sunday after he was transported to the R. L. Schneider Hospital by ambulance. Police report no motive for the abduction and subsequent shooting. The suspects are also unknown.
In an earlier incident, police investigators were called to the Contant Car Wash on St. Thomas Saturday morning to reports of shots fired. Patrol units found Stanley Liburd, the vice president of the V.I. Taxi Association, with a gunshot wound to the right side of the body. He was taken by ambulance to the Schneider Hospital where he was expected to undergo surgery for a bullet wound to the chest area and an exit wound in the back. Late Saturday night he was listed in stable condition.
Carty said Sunday night that Liburd was shot by a lone gunman while washing his taxi van on the eastern end of the carwash property across the street from Budget Rent A Car. "Liburd was approached by a gunman and was shot," Carty said. The gunman made his getaway in a green sports utility vehicle. Although Liburd was able to document the license plate number of the suspect's car, it did not match the vehicle, an indication that the plates were stolen. Carty described the suspect as a black male between the ages of 18 and 25. The suspect was wearing all black clothing and a white bandana over his head when he carried out the shooting. As police cordoned off the area on Saturday morning, ammunition spent casings were seen directly behind Liburd's white and burgundy taxi van.
In yet another shooting on Sunday, Carty said Keithroy Greenaway was shot while washing his vehicle in the "Africa" area of Savan near the Nordsidevej community.
Greenaway sustained a single gunshot wound to the right leg and was transported to the Schneider Hospital for treatment. The suspect in the shooting is unknown.
Carty appealed to anyone with information on the incidents of violent crime to contact investigators at 715-5522 or police emergency at 911.
The murder of Poleon is St. Thomas' 17th murder, and the 28th in the territory.
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