A shocking fatal shooting has rocked the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where a 37-year-old former national football player was gunned down in a public street Friday night. Now, law enforcement officials have launched a wide-ranging investigation into the killing, which has pushed the country’s 2025 homicide total to 15, marking a disturbing surge in violent crime in recent weeks.
According to official police statements released Saturday, emergency dispatchers received the first report of the shooting at approximately 8:06 p.m. local time. First responding officers rushed to the incident site, located just steps from the local Anglican Church in the Calliaqua district, where they found Keith “Devon” James, a long-time resident of Golden Vale, Calliaqua, lying unresponsive on the left side of the roadway.
Witness accounts collected by investigators suggest James had just returned to his neighborhood and was exiting his vehicle when the gunman opened fire. Local residents have told investigators they spotted an unregistered dark-colored vehicle speeding away from the area immediately after the shots rang out, leading to widespread speculation that the killing was a premeditated attack, with the suspect lying in wait for James before striking.
A medical examiner who arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting pronounced James dead at the location. Forensic investigators working the case recovered five spent 9mm shell casings from the road and surrounding area, evidence that will be used to match against weapons recovered as part of the investigation. In a subsequent search of James’s private residence, law enforcement seized a Glock pistol, 10 live 9mm rounds of ammunition, an extra pistol magazine, a large cache of cash that included both local and foreign currency, and an undetermined amount of a controlled substance that field testing suggests is cocaine.
In their official statement, police noted that all seized items are currently undergoing forensic examination as part of the active investigation, and investigators have not yet confirmed what connection, if any, the recovered materials have to the fatal shooting. “Investigators are pursuing several lines of inquiry and are examining all relevant circumstances that may assist in determining the motive and identifying the person or persons responsible,” the statement read.
A post-mortem examination is scheduled to take place in the coming days to formally confirm the cause and manner of James’s death. The Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force has extended formal condolences to James’s family and loved ones as they navigate this tragedy, while also urging the general public to avoid spreading unconfirmed speculation about the case. Officials asked that community members allow the investigative process to proceed unimpeded.
Police are calling on any member of the public with information related to the shooting, no matter how small it may seem, to come forward to assist with the investigation. Tips can be submitted to the Criminal Investigations Department/Major Crimes Unit at 456-1810, Police Control at 457-1211, the emergency police line at 911 or 999, or any local police precinct. All submitted information will be kept completely confidential, per police policy.
James’s killing marks a grim milestone for the small island nation: it pushes the total number of homicides recorded in St. Vincent and the Grenadines so far this year to 15, and James is already the fourth person to be killed by gunfire in the country in less than a month.