Why No Outrage Over Crime in VI?
Broadcast co-host Elvin G. Grant challenged residents on ZBVI 780 AM to explain why social media outrage over dress codes outpaces public anger about violent crime. Grant highlighted unresolved shootings, families still without answers and brazen daytime attacks as reasons for sustained public concern and systemic change.
Grant has asked a blunt question of Virgin Islands residents: why does social media erupt over issues like dress codes while remaining largely silent when people are shot and killed? Speaking on ZBVI 780 AM’s Talking Points programme on Monday, August 10, 2026, Grant said the loss of human life should provoke at least as much — if not more — sustained public outrage than debates over clothing or behaviour. “Why isn’t there a similar sort of outrage about crime in the territory?
Why are people being shot in broad daylight? Why are people being gunned down like dogs in the street?” he asked. Grant pointed to long-standing unsolved cases as a source of community frustration, naming the 2017 shooting death of Trinity A. Moses among those that remain unresolved.
He said multiple families are still waiting for justice and closure, with some crimes never solved and perpetrators never held to account. The co-host described a worrying breakdown in law and order, noting recent incidents in which armed individuals entered Emancipation celebrations, nightclubs and bars and opened fire, killing or injuring people. “To think that persons believe they can take armed weapons into an emancipation celebration, into a nightclub, into a bar, and just gun someone down without repercussion — that blows my mind,” Grant said, stressing that such events warrant a deeper public conversation.
For residents, these comments underscore broader concerns about community safety, public confidence in policing and the ability of criminal justice institutions to deliver timely answers. Grant urged that outrage be sustained long enough to force systemic change, rather than flickering briefly on social media and then fading.
While Grant did not outline specific policy prescriptions on the programme, his remarks point to several areas that often figure in public debate: the resourcing and capacity of law enforcement, the handling of investigations, witness cooperation and protection, and measures to prevent firearms entering public gatherings.
Whether through sustained civic pressure, community-driven safety initiatives, or calls for legislative and enforcement reforms, the discussion Grant seeks is one that many residents say is long overdue. Families still awaiting answers, he noted, deserve more than intermittent attention — they deserve accountability and closure.
Primary source: VINO