The message spread the way many do these days — as a voice note (and later a screen recording) that bounced from phone to phone and was passed through group chats and WhatsApp chains late Sunday night. Its language was explicit. Its threats — of bombs and violence targeting Black students — were both jarring and specific. And by Monday morning, schools across St. Croix were empty.
The Virgin Islands Education Department confirmed late Monday that every St. Croix public school campus had been cleared and would reopen Tuesday after extensive sweeps that also included private schools, with law enforcement maintaining a visible presence. Schools in the St. Thomas–St. John district — which were not closed Monday but still searched — have likewise been cleared. But the broader investigation, led by VIPD in partnership with the FBI, is still active and ongoing.
For Tafari Nelson, the day shifted in a heartbeat. His wife, who works at Juanita Gardine, had shared the voice note with him the night before. By Monday morning, he’d dropped his daughter at day care and was on the way to work when the call came to pick up his son. He made a U-turn.
On the ride home, Nelson used the time to talk with his son — calmly, but seriously — about what a bomb threat is and why it’s not something to ignore. At home, they sat together and recorded a short YouTube video, framed as a news report, that had garnered thousands of views by midday.
Nelson said he’d been thinking for a while about starting more intentional conversations between parents and children, and this moment felt like the right time to begin. It was also the first time, he said, that he’d seen a threat connected to a school incident in the territory that was explicitly racial. He called it “unforgivable” and said he hopes the sender is identified.
Meanwhile, the threatening recording was first brought to the attention of Police Chief Uston A. Cornelius by a concerned parent late Sunday night, triggering a response. Cornelius alerted VIPD Commissioner Mario Brooks and reached out to Education officials. By Monday morning, officers were fanned out across St. Croix’s larger public high school campuses.
Cornelius said the protocol was simple: clear civilians, walk through with staff, and look for anything out of the ordinary. If nothing stands out, the building is returned to administrators. If something does, specialized units are called in. No suspicious items were found on the main campuses, but walk-throughs were extended “to satisfy the concerns of all involved.”
The decision to shut down all district schools, he added, came after consultations with Education and was largely driven by the absence of the schools’ monitors. A recent shift in scheduling aligned monitors’ contracts with the school year, rather than keeping them on 12-month schedules. Whether that played a role in the high number of absences on Monday is unclear, but their absence left an immediate gap in campus security.
Education Commissioner Dionne Wells-Hedrington, who flew to St. Croix Monday morning, said the department wasn’t willing to take chances. “A day can be made up — lives cannot,” she said, calling the decision to close schools a “straightforward” one given the circulating message and the lack of monitors in place.
Upon landing, she immediately met with St. Croix Insular Superintendent Carla Bastian Knight. Wells-Hedrington emphasized that buildings would only reopen once police gave the all-clear — and once monitors were confirmed to return. Additional sweeps are scheduled for Tuesday morning, with monitors expected back on post.
While logistics drove the official response, it was the content of the recording that struck a nerve in the community. The voice note was blunt in its threat, naming schools as targets and singling out Black students. Wells-Hedrington said she was “surprised” to hear the language used in the message and is “eagerly awaiting” investigative findings. If a student is behind the recording, she said, the response must also include an understanding of what led to it — whether isolation, bullying, or other pressures — while also acknowledging that federal consequences could follow.
By Monday evening, the list of confirmed facts was short: no weapons or devices found, no suspect publicly identified, and school scheduled to resume the next morning. But the broader questions — who sent the message, why it was made, and what safeguards are needed going forward — are now in the hands of investigators and public safety officials.
Cornelius, for his part, acknowledged the demand for answers. “It’s still a work in progress,” he said. “But trust me — once we’re able to give the community updates on what’s transpiring, we’ll make sure the public is notified.”
