Police arrested an allegedly homicidal St. Croix man Monday who shot at a woman and her child as they fled him Sunday morning, according to the Virgin Islands Police Department.

K’Jahni Rivera, 23, surrendered to police Monday afternoon and was charged with attempted murder, according to police. Police said they had interviewed the woman and her child, as well as other witnesses, but court records on the incident were not yet available Tuesday night.

It was not Rivera’s first domestic violence arrest. He was on probation for two separate violent incidents.

Rivera had 16 days left on a one-year probation order after allegedly choking a woman and beating her bloody in front of their child in 2023. The woman had suggested ways he could be a better father when, according to court records, Rivera flew into a rage. When she attempted to flee, Rivera allegedly picked her up and threw her back in the house.

The victim was left with a sore neck, severe headaches, red and dark colored marks, abrasions, and swollen contusions on her forehead, left arm, neck, back of ears, back, under her eyes and nose. She also had dried blood on her back, according to court records. She told police it was not the first time Rivera had attacked her so viciously that she feared for her life.

No bail was set for Rivera, and he was transported to the John Bell Correctional Facility pending a Wednesday hearing in the Superior Court, police said.

Rivera was initially charged with attempted murder and assault. The charges were eventually reduced to preventing or dissuading a witness from attending trial. On Nov. 26, 2024, Judge Douglas Brady sentenced Rivera to a one-year suspended jail sentence and one year of probation. He was also ordered to stay away from the victim and complete an anger management course for batterers.

In May, Judge Ernest E. Morris found Rivera guilty of two counts of domestic violence assault and battery after Rivera failed to complete an anger management course mandated in a 2021 plea agreement. Rivera, then 18, had been charged with assault and battery after allegedly choking and punching the face of a former girlfriend — a minor.

When Rivera failed to finish an anger management course, Judge Morris sentenced Rivera to two six-month terms for the beating, but suspended the sentence so he could continue his newly-found work as a heavy equipment operator. On May 1, Rivera was given one year of probation, during which he was ordered not to violate any laws.

In July, attorneys for Rivera said he had completed 15 of 16 hours of anger management courses but had not yet enrolled in a mandated “primary batterers intervention” course. Morris gave Rivera until Feb. 4 to do so.