By: J. Libia

How many of you feel that the Virgin Islands Police Department is not doing their job? How many of you feel that the confrontations and killings in these islands we call paradise could have been prevented? An article in the Virgin Islands Daily News entitled “Murder suspect is killed by police” by Constance Cooper, describes such an incident in which police officers used deadly force. http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/murder-suspect-is-killed-by-police-1.778199

In the article, the suspect that was killed by the police was labeled as being mentally unstable by his neighbors. But that was not entirely his fault. The suspect known as “Isus” was what we call a “Good Samaritan turned bad.” Before this crime took place, Isus helped his fellow farmers by giving them whatever they needed whenever he could, without asking for anything in return. A citizen of the Bordeaux Farms, who chooses to remain anonymous, stated, “Whenever one of we needed something, he would give. He give would the shirt off his back before turning any aw we away.” Knowing this, what could turn this man against his fellow farmers? What could cause him to kill?

After a series of unfortunate events, Isus was giving a sentence of about nine months in jail, and during that time many of the farmers stayed in his shanty and used his supplies. When Isus was later released he returned to his empty shack. Everything was removed, from his clothes to his food and electronics. Knowing that he just came out of prison he did not act on his findings.

From the farmer’s point of view, what truly set him off was when he saw some of his neighbors using and wearing his merchandise they had take, took everything he had, without bothering to check on him, and left him a poor man. That’s what set him off.

How many of you would be upset if you came home one day to meet your empty house, and later discovered the people that robbed you were the same people you helped in their time of need? I know many of you would be angry. That is the situation Isus was put in.

He started threatening the residents with guns and words, saying claims like “I’m going to get you. I’m going to kill you.” Many of the residents paid him no mind. When he saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere, he then started to physically act out. He started to throw rocks at houses in the middle of the night, and light them on fire while people were still inside.

About several days before the shooting a resident went to the police station to complain the noise that he was making. The resident left the station unsatisfied. But he soon came back to file another report on Isus, stating that he attempted to light his house on fire while he and his family were sleeping. A witness at the station stated that the police seemed irritated that he showed up again, one officer stated “You just came to complain the man, why are you back again.” The witness reported that the man went crazy and was shouting claims, such as the police will not take this situation seriously unless someone gets hurt.

Before the incident on May 10^th occurred in which two men lost their lives, the police did indeed come to the Bordeaux Farms, after more residents complained. They searched the area looking for Isus but came up with nothing. They searched his house and the surrounding area determined to catch a “crazy” man. One of the farmers, fearing overreaction by the police, tried to persuade the officers to let him go after the man and help him to calm down. The man, who also chooses to remain anonymous, was allowed to go after the suspect.

The farmer stated, “I went down one of the ditches and heard a bird call. I looked up in the trees and I saw him [Isus]. You could tell he was scared. So I tried to reason with him. I told him he better try to calm down and stop what he is doing because they are ready to come down and kill him.”

Things calmed down for several days, stated the farmers. But then Isus continued on with being a menace. Because he didn’t have anything to eat or a job, he resorted to breaking and entering onto the other farmers’ properties, taking few plants and some food. Seeing his condition, some farmers allowed him to take what he needed. But others didn’t take it lightly.

The farmers held meetings in order to help resolve their problem, but all they could really do was try to protect themselves and to stay out of Isus way. But it soon became unbearable for some.

A local farmer by the name of James Hodge was one who couldn’t take it anymore. Despite numerous warnings by other farmers, he still went to confront Isus. Later that day he went missing, and a fire broke out in Isus’s shanty.

Police officers and firefighters responded to the incident, and also to put out a fire that was allegedly set by Isus to his own home. The farmers told the police what ever they could about what Hodges disappearance.

Using what information they gathered, the police found a pool of blood they believed was Hodge’s. They weren’t able to find the body until the next day at 11:20 am, near the burned shack.

After finding Hodge’s body, they continued to search for Isus, who was later spotted with a gun on the road leaving Bordeaux. The police asked him numerous times to put down his weapon, but their warnings produced no result. Instead he raised his weapon to the police, and he was shot.

Some of his fellow farmers believed that this situation could have been prevented from the beginning if the police paid more attention when the first complaints about Isus was made, instead of waiting until someone was killed.

But some of the farmers deserve even more blame. This situation could have also been prevented if the some of the farmers didn’t think only of themselves, and extended more hands to Isus, the man who helped them so much in the past.