The Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia is reeling from two back-to-back fatal shootings that occurred in its capital city of Castries on Sunday, leaving two local men dead and prompting an urgent ongoing investigation by the country’s top law enforcement agency.
The Royal Saint Lucia Police Force has released detailed information about the two separate incidents, which unfolded roughly 11 hours apart in different neighborhoods of Castries. The first victim was identified as 25-year-old Jamal Thomas, a resident of the Belair district of Castries. Law enforcement received a report of gunfire in the Belair area at 12:39 a.m. on Sunday, shortly after midnight. Officers assigned to the Marigot Police Station were immediately dispatched to the scene, where they discovered Thomas’ unresponsive body on a concrete roadway. He had sustained multiple visible gunshot wounds, and a practicing medical professional pronounced him dead at the site of the incident.
Almost 11 hours after the first killing, a second shooting was reported in another Castries neighborhood, Ravine Chabot. At 11:10 a.m. Sunday, the Criminal Investigations Department received the emergency report and sent officers to the location. First responders found the second victim, 56-year-old John Ferdinand — who was also known locally by the nickname “John Slade” — in a densely overgrown, vegetated patch of land. Like Thomas, Ferdinand had clear gunshot wounds, and he was also pronounced dead on the scene by a medical worker.
Now, the force’s Major Crimes Unit has taken over the probe into both deaths, as investigators work to piece together motive, identify suspects, and build cases for prosecution. Law enforcement officials are making a public appeal for community cooperation to move the investigations forward. Any person who holds even small pieces of information that could help detectives solve either killing is asked to contact the Major Crimes Unit directly at the dedicated phone line 456-3754. For residents who wish to share details without revealing their identity, anonymous tips can be submitted through the national Crime Hotline at 555, or via the official Crime Hotline mobile application.