Community Candlelight Vigil is Friday for Slain VIPD Detective Delberth Phipps Jr.

The community is invited to join a candlelight vigil for slain V.I. Police Detective Delberth Phipps Jr. on Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Alexander A. Farrelly Justice Complex courtyard on St. Thomas.

Phipps, 42, a seven-year veteran of the department, was killed while responding to a 911 call of a man carrying a firearm and wearing a bulletproof vest in the vicinity of Hospital Ground near “Jah Yard” just before 8 a.m. on July 4 on St. Thomas.

Phipps, who graduated from officer training in 2016, was a second-generation member of the police department, following in his father’s footsteps, the VIPD said. He was among the USVI’s first graduating class of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Use of Force certification program in September, along with 13 of his fellow officers.

Richardson Dangleben Jr., the man accused of killing Phipps, is scheduled to appear at a hearing in federal court on Monday. He made his initial appearance in District Court on Friday.

He is charged with first-degree murder and with having a firearm with an obliterated serial number at the time that he, Phipps, and another police officer exchanged gunfire during a confrontation in Jah Yard.