The St. Croix man who allegedly shot at a woman and her children as they fled also chased them at high speed down the Melvin Evans Highway, according to court records posted Thursday.
K’Jahni Rivera, 23, was on probation for two previous domestic violence-related convictions when, with nowhere else to go, he begged to sleep at an ex-girlfriend’s apartment, according to court records.
Rather than staying just the night, Rivera took the woman’s keys and refused to return them. He would leave the door unlocked for her, she told police he said.
On Sunday, Rivera demanded the woman wash his clothes. He became enraged when she refused. He smashed up her bedroom and threatened her with a handgun, according to court records.
Fearing for her life and the safety of her two children, the woman followed Rivera’s orders to sit on the bed. She told police she considered running, but saw that Rivera was shaking uncontrollably, which she recognized as an indicator that he was nearing a blind violent outburst.
“The victim stated that she continued thinking of a way to get out and eventually told Mr. Rivera that her throat was very dry, and that she needed to drink some water, which is when he allowed her to go out of the room,” according to a police report of the incident.
Realizing that her phone was inoperable, the woman grabbed her children — aged 10 and 8 — and ran to her car. As she drove away, Rivera allegedly fired a single shot at them. Police later recovered a 9mm bullet casing in front of the apartment, according to court records.
When the victim and her children pulled over to use a telephone, they saw Rivera drive by. Suspecting they had been seen, the woman got back in her car but found the road blocked by Rivera’s blue Honda. Fearing more gunfire, the woman drove around Rivera’s Honda. He tried to ram her vehicle, she said.
Both cars veered off the road into a grassy area before a high-speed chase down the Melvin Evans Highway, according to court records.
“The victim stated that her children, who were seated in the back seat of the vehicle, were shouting Mummy, please go faster as she heard fear in their voices. The victim stated that she got back onto the roadway, overtook five cars, and took a big risk after she assessed the incoming traffic, by quickly veering into incoming traffic which was traveling eastbound on the Melvin H. Evans highway,” police told the Superior Court. “The victim began to cry as she explained the fear that she felt, and the fear that she observed in her children after these two incidents, noting that they did not sleep and continued to stay within a few feet of her.”
Rivera was arrested Tuesday and charged with attempted murder, according to police. It was not clear from court records if he was able to post 20% of his $100,000 bail required to gain release.
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.
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, 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.
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