By Brian O’Connor
The Virgin Islands Daily News
ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands — Security cameras outside a fire station where a firefighter was shot and killed were inoperable at the time of the shooting, fire officials said.
St. Thomas-St. John District Fire Chief Oral Wheatley could not say how long the cameras outside the Charlotte Amalie station were inoperable. He referred specific questions about the fatal shooting investigation to police.
“I have no idea,” he said, regarding how long the cameras hadn’t been working.
Details of the incident remained thin Friday morning.
Police identified the slain firefighter as Gregory Louis, 50, formerly of St. John.
Officials could not say what kind of gun had been used, or how many shots had been fired, but previously said Louis had been shot in the head about 7:39 p.m. Thursday night. Police also didn’t offer a specific motive for the killing, though they generally said they didn’t believe Louis had been targeted because he was a firefighter.
Officials generally said the investigation is in the preliminary phases, and that much remained to be determined.
Investigators are interviewing various people in connection with the shooting, said deputy chief Eugene Alcendor.
“The matter is actively being investigated and all leads are being pursued,” he said.
Wheatley said Louis was survived by children and other family members, but he couldn’t say how many children or how old they are. Louis had relocated to St. Thomas between five and seven years before his death.
“Everybody can’t believe that he’s gone,” Wheatley said.
Firefighters — all of whom declined to be identified — said they didn’t believe Louis was the type to become the victim of a violent crime and that his death was heartbreaking. Wheatley described Louis as a pleasant person.
“He was an easy-going guy, a soft-spoken guy,” he said. “He was very easy to work with.”
Wheatley referred specific questions about the investigation and scene to police. Wheatley met with grief counselors Friday morning, and said they would be made available to firefighters via Cigna, the company’s benefit plan.
V.I. Police Commissioner Delroy Richards Sr. said Louis likely was killed for some other reason than being a firefighter.
“I don’t think he was targeted for being a firefighter, but then again, I don’t know anything about the individual,” he said of Louis. “Everybody I’ve spoken with said he was family-oriented.”
Investigators are controlling the amount of information publicly available to protect a possible conviction, Richards said. He also couldn’t confirm whether investigators may be checking other security cameras in the area for video of the shooting.
“We don’t want to say specifically what we are doing,” he said. “Normally if there are cameras, that’s something the investigators will look at.”
The park bench where Louis died is on the corner of a busy public intersection in St. Thomas, within sight of Fort Christian, legislative offices, and a tented flea market, and within earshot of a public park. The area of the benches and a nearby park are covered by multiple video cameras, Alcindor said.
A vendor in the market, Beverly Carr, left about two hours before the shooting, but she said she frequently saw firefighters at the fire station in the park in the afternoon.
When she left, she spotted a man she believed was Louis sitting on the bench, Carr said. Louis stood out, Carr said, because she knows numerous firefighters who work at the downtown Charlotte Amalie station as neighbors and friends, but she didn’t recognize Louis.
Carr has worked in the market since it opened in 1995, and said the area generally is considered safe.
“We’re just sad that it happened,” she said. “It’s so close to home, because the firemen are like one of us. They respect us and we respect them.”
Louis’s murder was the territory’s 43rd homicide of 2016, and comes about a week after the murder of two St. Croix police officers.
Anyone with information can call the Criminal Investigation Task Force at 340-774-2211, or the anonymous tip line CrimeStoppers USVI at 1-800-222-8477.
Copyright 2016 The Virgin Islands Daily News