21-Year-Old Man Killed in Sugar Estate Shooting

A fatal shooting occurred in Sugar Estate, St. Thomas, on Wednesday. At approximately 5:52 p.m., concerned citizens alerted 911 about gunfire and a man down in the vicinity of First Street. Responding officers discovered an unresponsive Black male with multiple gunshot wounds, the V.I. Police Department reported.

Emergency Medical Technicians arrived shortly after and confirmed that the victim had no signs of life by 6:08 p.m. The victim was later identified by next of kin as 21-year-old Ja’haile Clendinen, according to the police report.

The incident led to significant traffic delays on St. Thomas late Wednesday afternoon as V.I. Police Department teams secured the scene and conducted their investigation.

Clendinen’s death marks the 14th homicide of the year on St. Thomas and the 24th for the territory, according to the Source Homicide List.* There have been 10 such deaths on St. Croix and none on St. John.