A 23-year-old St. Croix man was shot to death Thursday morning, continuing a dramatic week of gun violence.
Tyree Rentas was shot in the head near Building 8 of the Harbor View Housing Community in Christiansted at around 11:30 a.m., police said, adding they quickly apprehended a possible suspect. The investigation was still very much active, police said.
Few other details were available Thursday afternoon.
Rentas’ death is the fourth firearm homicide in the territory in as many days. Since early evening July 4, at least four others have been wounded by gun violence but survived.
A little after 5 p.m. on the Fourth of July, police say Miguel Marrero escalated a simmering inter-family feud by encouraging his 17-year-old son to beat up a 15-year-old neighbor girl, then shooting her outraged mother in the side. Deeply disturbing video of the St. Croix incident seems to show Marrero firing three more shots at fleeing children who had been standing nearby, hitting one — the 15-year-old girl — in the leg and ankle. The girl was treated and released from Juan F. Luis Hospital while her mother underwent emergency surgery.
Four days later, a little after noon on July 8, St. Thomas beachgoers found 41-year-old Rudy Bridges shot to death at Brewers Beach. He’d suffered multiple gunshot wounds, investigators said.
Two days later, at around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to reports of shooting at St. Thomas’ Four Winds Plaza. They found Lamar Richardson, 29, and Randy John Baptiste, 33, shot to death. They learned that two others were taken to Schneider Regional Medical Center for treatment of gunshot wounds, police said.
The death of Rentas is the territory’s 18th homicide, bringing the tally on St. Croix to six dead from violence this year, according to the Source Homicide List.*
Anyone with any information about any of these incidents should contact the V.I. Police Department at 340-774-2211, the Criminal Investigation Unit’s Major Crimes Division at 340-642-8449, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-Tips (8477), or 911.
* The Source Homicide List is a chronological log of the homicides recorded in 2024 in the U.S. Virgin Islands, as reported by the VIPD. Cases are broken down by island. While this listing is based on VIPD reports, the Source does not include suicides or vehicular homicides in its listing, which the police and some other media do. This can lead to a discrepancy in the number of incidents reported.
