On a Clear Night…Vester Gade in downtown Cruz Bay has been opened up for nightlife with the canopy of overhead trees trimmed, a storage container moved and the view opened up for strollers — and security cameras.
CRUZ BAY — Mahogany trees have been trimmed to a high canopy and bright streetlights afford a well-lit, verdant tunnel for the nightlife foot traffic on Vester Gade, or West Street, through the heart of downtown Cruz Bay – with clear lines of sight for the security cameras positioned on the corner at each end of the block.
For a town with more street names than streets – sections of the three main Danish Streets in the island metropolis have been named after gaggle of royalty – the narrow tree-lined lane is becoming the center of the Cruz Bay nightlife scene in the glow of the brightly-painted Our Market Smoothie Stand – the darling of the internet.
The scene of a recent fatal alleged “revenge” shooting of an island man on the sidewalk in front of a mid-block rental car parking lot across from the Ubaldina Simmonds U.S. Post Office has focused much-welcomed attention on the heavily-traveled, one-lane lane between the island’s newest plein air restaurant, The Longboard, and one of its oldest and typically loudest street-front “establishments,” Cap’s Place.
Following the completion of construction on the new loading dock at the Cruz Bay Post Office in recent months, the 40-foot storage container which had fill the corner of Vester Gade has been removed opening the sight lines of the ever-present surveillance cameras on either end of the block.
No Arrest in Shooting Investigation
The Friday, May 29, shooting death of Kenson Jolly, 25, of Pastory, is still under investigation by authorities as a possible act of retaliation for a vicious machete attack by Jolly on another St. John man in the same area earlier this year. There was no official information available on the status of Jolly’s prosecution on charges stemming from that incident.
Jolly was shot from behind while sitting in a lawn chair on the sidewalk in front of a rental car parking lot in the middle of Vester Gade around 11 p.m. Witnesses have said as many as nine shots were fired and as many as four bullets struck Jolly in the neck
Although police have expressed confidence about their investigation, there have been no pronouncements of progress or pending apprehensions nor any signs of any intensive investigation.
Surveillance Image Is Critical
With the images of the assailant purportedly captured by a video surveillance camera in the alleyway behind the V.I. Legislature Annex and V.I. Police Department Leander Jurgen Command in downtown Cruz Bay, the ultimate question may be whether the videos provide the identification necessary for an arrest?
