Ralph Titre Jr.
Estate Hard Labor resident Ralph Titre Jr. faces charges of first degree murder for the shooting death of Tiny Jah Jarvis, 31, in Bellevue Village on August 17.
Titre, 23, is charged with shooting Jarvis several times around 9 p.m. on August 17. The Estate Hard Labor resident turned himself in to VIPD custody about 12 hours later on Saturday morning, August 18.
Titre faces life in prison if convicted of first degree murder. He was advised of his rights before V.I. Superior Court Judge Brenda Hollar on Monday, August 20, according to a report in the V.I. Daily News.
During the hearing, Hollar refused to reduce Titre’s $500,000 cash-only bail to 10 or 20 percent, as requested by Defense Attorney Simone Van Holten-Turnbull, according to the report.
The August 20 advice of rights hearing did not include testimony since the court had previously found probable cause to uphold the charges of first degree murder, second degree murder, first degree assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence and reckless endangerment against Titre.
An affidavit written by VIPD Detective Mark Thomas on Saturday, August 18, the day after the shooting, detailed two witnesses who described seeing Titre fire a small handgun at Jarvis’ head, according to the report in the V.I. Daily News.
The two witnesses, one of whom had relations with both the deceased and the accused, were at a Bellevue Village home when first Jarvis and then Titre arrived, according to the report.
The witness who had been intimate with both Jarvis and Titre approached Titre and tried to get him to leave the area, according to the report in the V.I. Daily News.
Instead of leaving, Titre and Jarvis got into an altercation during which Jarvis told Titre to “then shoot me,” according to the report.
Titre pulled out a small handgun and fired a shot into the ground, according to the report.
The second witness said Jarvis tried to return to his vehicle when Titre fired two more shots at Jarvis’ head, according to the V.I. Daily News report.
Witnesses described seeing “the blood squirting” from Jarvis’ head, as quoted in the V.I. Daily News.
According to the VIPD affidavit, Titre did not have authorization to carry a legal firearm, the report added.
During the investigation, VIPD officials confiscated a firearm — a Davis Industries 380 pistol, according to the V.I. Daily News report — which will be tested to determine if it was used in this shooting, according to information from VIPD.
