It was just after 8:00 pm on Monday night, March 14, 2016 when contact lines of The Consortium started buzzing with messages of incessant gunshots coming from within Good Hope Condos, a gated community located across the former Good Hope School and just off the Melvin Evans Highway in Frederiksted, St Croix, US Virgin Islands. Photo: VIC

An ambulance inside the Good Hope gated community. Photo: VIC

At the same time, ambulances began hustling west, and more messages came in as residents kept mentioning the loud sounds of gunshots as far as the Mars Hill Police Station.

Upon The Consortium’s arrival on the scene, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) had already hoisted the gunshot victims — a male and female — into the ambulances, speeding their way back east to the Juan F. Luis Hospital.

The Consortium spoke with Police Commissioner Delroy Richards, who said that just after 8:00 pm, multiple gunshots erupted within the Good Hope gated community. He said it appears that a suspect or suspects were lying in wait for the two victims who were about to exit the gated community in their car. However, as soon as the gates opened, gunshots — rattling the neighborhood and seemingly unrelenting — riddled the car leaving both the driver and passenger injured.

The male got out the vehicle, took off running and was found bleeding to the west side of the gated community. The woman stayed in the car inside Good Hope, and was treated by EMTs there.

Police officers, already patrolling Campo Rico, hurried to the scene and arrived just moments after the incident, according to Mr Richards. Police recovered an AK-47 on the scene, although it was not immediately clear who it belonged to, and the suspect (s) had already fled the area.

“You guys have your hands full,” one man who heard the shots said to officers. He was referring to the caliber of weapon that jolted residents in nearby neighborhoods and shook Good Hope. According to multiple reports, the female victim was shot in the chest, and Mr Richards told The Consortium that both victims are currently undergoing surgery.

Asked if this latest incident was connected to the surge of gun crimes over the weekend, Mr Richards said he couldn’t say for sure, and that investigators would have to dig deeper before a conclusion could be made.