Two men, one of them an off-duty police officer, were injured Thursday in the Calquon area, in a shooting incident in which a communication breakdown appears to have caused a friendly-fire shooting, the V.I. Police Department reported.
According to police, at 11:30 p.m. Thursday the 911 emergency call center reported that a black male was brandishing a weapon at the vicinity of the Frontline Bar in the Calquhoun area. An off-duty police officer heard the report and called 911, advising that he was responding to the incident.
At the scene the off-duty officer, whose name was not released by police, told the suspect to drop his weapon. The suspect pointed his weapon in the direction of the officer, who fired his own weapon, striking the man in the body.
Unfortunately, on-duty police officers who responded were unaware that an off-duty officer was on the scene. They fired their weapons at the off-duty officer, who was injured by by the friendly fire.
The off-duty officer received a gunshot wound to the hip area and was transported by police officers to Juan F. Luis Hospital. The suspect was transported to the Juan F. Luis Hospital by ambulance.
The VIPD is conducting two investigations simultaneously; both a criminal and an internal investigation.
