Don’t come here. Don’t vacation here. Don’t get off your cruise ship for fear of death.

That’s the message Governor John deJongh Jr…

And Police Commissioner Novelle Franci Jr. might as well be sending. In my humble opinion they might as well have pulled the trigger themselves in today’s double homicide bloodbath.

Crime is so bad in the US Virgin islands that we just about lead the nation with 42 homicides, with a population of only 100,000 residents.

Today a young innocent girl, 14 years old from the Carnival Cruise Ship Victory, was gunned down in crossfire by brutal killers as she went to play on Coki Beach. The dirty little secret is out now, it’s just not bad guys killing bad guys; innocent people are now getting caught in the middle.

And why was she killed? Because last month there was a brutal shooting at Tutu Mall in front of Subway where a man was gunned down in the middle of the parking lot in broad daylight. Today’s shooting was retaliation against that killing. That day’s shooting was probably retaliation for a previous shooting…and so it goes…no end in sight.

The Governor and Police Chief have known of these issues for years and have done nothing to solve the gang related problems. More criminals have guns than the police force.

Today the Governor issued a statement, here’s a tidbit:

“Parents should be more vigilant at home and residents should turn their back on criminals.”

Really Governor deJongh Jr.? That’s your answer? You can read his entire response here. Please tell me where he outlines any solutions?

We need a serious attack on the wild west that you’ve been neglecting (in my opinion). Bring in the freakin’ militia. There should be raids, we should employ “stop and frisk” like New York. We need to do SOMETHING now!

Our police force is inept. They want no real outside help. Murders and criminals regularly walk free from crimes. All this is hidden from tourists. We don’t like to talk about it for fear of losing money. Well the cat’s out of the bag now!

Today is the saddest day of my residency in St. Thomas because today I can no longer tell tourists, readers, locals and anyone else that St. Thomas is safe. It’s not. Criminals aren’t just killing criminals, they’re killing innocents.

Until local government and police decide to crack down on this crime epidemic it’s just not safe to be here.

Today this letter was posted on our blog from Carnival Cruise Line (click to enlarge):

Carnival will no longer be taking passengers to Coki. That means Coral World as well. What will become of all the honest vendors and businesses there?

What happens when Carnival stops coming to St. Thomas altogether?

I’m holding Governor John deJongh Jr. and Police Commissioner Novelle Franci Jr. responsible for today and what happens going forward. This is it, it’s on you to take back control of our streets. Do what needs to be done.

Multiple Cruise Lines Pull Out Of Tours To Coki Area Click Here.

Read CNN’s Report here.

Read Yahoo’s Report Here.

Read The Washington Post Here.

Read CBS’s Post Here.

Read USA Today’s Post Here.

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Scott and I have lived here for four years – we love it. We’ve had a lot of fun living down here. We’ve met excellent people. We tell a lot of people about the many positives of living down here while reminding them that this island is like a city, and should be treated as such. The recent afternoon shooting at Kmart gave us pause; today’s incident was no different. “Disgusting”, “Depressing”, “Heartbreaking” were the words that kept repeating over and over on facebook and from mouths as the news traveled this afternoon.

Do we want to write about this? No. Would I be able to sweep this under our virtual rug and ramble on about the sun and fun as if nothing happened? Absolutely not; not when there’s a family out there tonight that is going through unimaginable sadness. Not when there’s a ship of passengers who are now aware of the horror that happened today and are currently spidering it out over the internet to family/friends/fellow travelers. Today we are ANGRY.

What do you think STT – are we overreacting?

Our hearts go out to the family of Lizmarie Perez Chapparro and to all the other families that have been affected by this mindless violence.

Usually when you’re pissing off customers you don’t get a raise. Normally when your service is 3 times the cost of all your competition you don’t get a raise. Normally when your service sucks way more than everyone else you don’t get a raise.

Welcome to St. Thomas

And yet the rolling blackouts continue. Gosh, I’ve never seen a place where incompetence was rewarded until I moved to St. Thomas. You just have to laugh, grin and bear it. We all do every month when we pay our WAPA bill.

Next up for a raise? The director of the BMV?

That’s the name a lot of people use when commenting on our stories. Or they give a fake name. Why not say who you are? Stand up for your opinions?

We post them all, well most of them anyway. Nicci and I work hard to keep you posted on events, news and give you honest St. Thomas reviews. We put ourselves out there so why not just say who you are when you comment?

We’ll keep posting your stuff  Anonymous so don’t worry. Your secret is safe with us

Rant over