Double Murder... anyone else hear about this?

[Sargent_Schultz]

Caught in the middle of a drug/retaliation related shooting. The kind of thing that happens in every major US city and many smaller ones.

 

Nothing that I saw indicates that she was from a cruise ship but I suppose could have been. She was riding on one of the safari buses.

[sturderick]

Caught in the middle of a drug/retaliation related shooting. The kind of thing that happens in every major US city and many smaller ones.

 

Nothing that I saw indicates that she was from a cruise ship but I suppose could have been. She was riding on one of the safari buses.

 

Copy of letter from Carnival is on this site :(

 

http://tweetphoto.com/32340902

[busybusy23]

Caught in the middle of a drug/retaliation related shooting. The kind of thing that happens in every major US city and many smaller ones.

 

Nothing that I saw indicates that she was from a cruise ship but I suppose could have been. She was riding on one of the safari buses.

 

These happens in CERTAIN areas of big cities and we typically don't hang around those areas. It certainly makes us think twice about going to the Cokie area and now with all these postings, rethinking St-Thomas in general.... I was not aware that there was so much crime on this small Island....

[osucruise]

Unless you are talking Texas border towns...maybe. St Thomas has about 51,000 people....41 murders in 6 months is huge.

[osucruise]

I love Jamaica and always stay at Negril or Montego Bay...but I would not venture to Kingston. But St Thomas is a very small island. I so feel bad for the families...and the others were at a funeral? sad, sad

[osucruise]

Every tourist town has shady areas....but coral world and coki beach? Yikes!

[vacruizer]

Unless you are talking Texas border towns...maybe. St Thomas has about 51,000 people....41 murders in 6 months is huge.

 

Richmond, VA, which was at one time had the highest murder rate in the country, only had 39 murders in ALL of 2009 if that gives you any idea. City population is around 202,000 (not the metro area but the city itself.)

 

Miami had 77 murders all year in 2006 for 331,000 people (couldn't find more recent data)

 

41 in 6 months for 51,000 people is a whopping number. None of us would think twice about visiting Miami or Richmond but there are certainly areas in both places we wouldn't go.

 

 

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/jul/05/homi05-ar-264365/

[busybusy23]

Richmond, VA, which was at one time had the highest murder rate in the country, only had 39 murders in ALL of 2009 if that gives you any idea. City population is around 202,000 (not the metro area but the city itself.)

 

Miami had 77 murders all year in 2006 for 331,000 people (couldn't find more recent data)

 

41 in 6 months for 51,000 people is a whopping number. None of us would think twice about visiting Miami or Richmond but there are certainly areas in both places we wouldn't go.

 

 

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/jul/05/homi05-ar-264365/

 

Exactly right !!! This number is HUGE ! I think the events of today should make cruise ships look deeper into the safety of this Island and perhaps chose a different port while stability is returned to the Island. That would certainly force the people in power to do something about it !

I certainly do not feel very safe looking at all the info that came out today. Will be in St-Thomas on August 9th...

[vacruizer]

Exactly right !!! This number is HUGE ! I think the events of today should make cruise ships look deeper into the safety of this Island and perhaps chose a different port while stability is returned to the Island. That would certainly force the people in power to do something about it !

I certainly do not feel very safe looking at all the info that came out today. Will be in St-Thomas on August 9th...

 

The cruise lines did it with St. Croix some years back. Crime against tourists went up and the ships left.

 

This so far is an isolated incident and a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But there is plenty of crime in St. Thomas - it pays to know where you are going and be aware of your surroundings. It's easy to be lulled by the whole tropical paradise thing. I know I was until I talked to a few people who actually lived there and found out how bad the crime problem actually was.

[kr8z]

No idea if she was a cruise passenger, but here is the latest blurb on this poor girl So sad.

 

"Police have said the second victim, 14-year-old Lizmarie Perez Chapparro, a visitor to the island, was traveling aboard a safari bus that got caught in the crossfire as shots rang through the area. Schneider Regional Medical Center spokesman Sam Topp said the girl was brought in after noon with a gunshot wound to the side of her body and died shortly after in the emergency room.

The wanted posted issued by VIPD for suspect Steve Tyson.

According to a release from the Tourism Department, a charter flight was subsequently arranged to take the girl's family back to Puerto Rico. Tourism officials stayed with the family until they left St. Thomas Monday afternoon, the release said."

[Inklight]

This is unbelievable ... I can't even imagine it. My heart goes out to that poor family. So very senseless.

[spleenstomper]

The letter is in post #27 above.

[spleenstomper]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100713/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_virgin_islands_tourist_killed;_ylt=An0v1io1kWMBy19AtaOPjKes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTQ0dGo0ZWlzBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwNzEzL2NiX3Zpcmdpbl9pc2xhbmRzX3RvdXJpc3Rfa2lsbGVkBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDNQRwb3MDMgRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWRsaW5lX2xpc3QEc2xrA3VzdmlyZ2luaXNsYQ--

[ChaylaT]

Does anyone know what tour company she was with?

[spleenstomper]

http://www.stthomasblog.com/?p=5351 A blog about the crime in St. Thomas.

[paulandfran]

http://www.vimovingcenter.com/talk/read.php?4,141676,141677,quote=1

 

 

Wow. Some of the posts on the above link are pretty disconcerting. After reading the one about some suspects charged with murder being on "house arrest" I went to the Virgin Islands Police Department website which seems to confirm this is true. Not the suspects in this shooting. But nonetheless I find that alarming to have accused murderers on house arrest.

 

http://www.vipd.gov.vi/crime/houseArrests.aspx

[Calico Jack Sparrow]

First, of course, my sympathy to the families.

 

This just crossed my mind, it's Monday.

This must have been the first port. What if you were on that ship?

OMG, I don't think I would leave the ship the rest of the trip.

Even worse, what if you were on that excursion, too!?!

 

Of all the things that could go wrong on your cruise, this is the worst thing I could think of.

[bplazo]

First, of course, my sympathy to the families.

 

This just crossed my mind, it's Monday.

This must have been the first port. What if you were on that ship?

OMG, I don't think I would leave the ship the rest of the trip.

Even worse, what if you were on that excursion, too!?!

 

Of all the things that could go wrong on your cruise, this is the worst thing I could think of.

 

Bad things can happen anywhere even on the ship.

[itsmebuggy]

here are all the links that I found on Carnival's FB page

http://tweetphoto.com/32340902

http://stthomassource.com/content/ne...eaves-two-dead

http://cbs4.com/national/shoot.us.virgin.2.1801176.html

[itsmebuggy]

we are sailing on our Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Dream Sept 25th this will be our 3rd Eastern we have been to St Thomas 2 times already and never had any issues even when traveling just hubby and I .... but its like I posted over on FB bad things happen everywhere even in our own back yard so to speak heck I live in a pretty small town and I can think of at least 3 to 5 murders in the past 2 months the world has gone crazy .... I have said a special prayer for those affected by the events in St Thomas

[O2B@Cagain]

The statistics are for the entire territory of the US Virgin Islands, not just St Thomas. The territory population is officially 120,000, but it is probably much higher due to illegal immigration and people who do not want to be counted.

[Perfect Stranger]

What a tragedy. :(

 

Imagine if this was a case of someone "bringing a friend" along on a cruise and this is the friend that got killed. How would you explain that to her parents? I would never want the responsibility for someone else's child on vacation.

[bacm]

This is a real eye opener. I had no idea that St. Thomas was dealing with "gang" violence. I love St. Thomas and have been there many times on cruises. As a matter of fact, I would search out the cruises that go to St. Thomas. Yikes....I'll certainly double think that decision now.

 

My condolences go out to the families. It's so sad to think that such a beautiful place is plagued with such violence.

[frito58]

First, of course, my sympathy to the families.

 

This just crossed my mind, it's Monday.

This must have been the first port. What if you were on that ship?

OMG, I don't think I would leave the ship the rest of the trip.

Even worse, what if you were on that excursion, too!?!

 

Of all the things that could go wrong on your cruise, this is the worst thing I could think of.

 

First of all my prayers go out to the families of the victims of this terrible crime.

 

I agree that bad things can happen anywhere, but when my sister-in-law hears about this I will be lucky if she gets off the ship on our cruise. She is already freaking out about going into mexico, all she is picturing, this is her first cruise, our tenth, murderers running rampant. I am so shocked about the things I have been reading on here about St. Thomas. I figured if there was a laid back place this was it. We have only been there a couple of times been to Coki back in 03 with Godfrey tours thought it looked fine.

[queenhcc]

I am will be sailing on the Victory August 1 and our first stop is St. Thomas.....I will have my grandchildren with me....dont think we will leave the ship:eek: