BOVONI WOMAN ARRESTED AFTER VIRAL RED HOOK FERRY TERMINAL STOMPING
Suspect Intercepted by Police BOLO After Attempting to Flee the Territory Following Brutal St. John Festival Brawl
By JOHN McCARTHY / St. Croix Sun News Reporter
CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A St. Thomas woman is behind bars on felony assault charges after a viral social media video exposed a savage mob attack at the Red Hook ferry terminal that left a woman hospitalized with severe facial fractures, court documents revealed.
Kahiyla Charles, also known locally as "Biggie" of Estate Bovoni, surrendered to authorities after police discovered she had booked a one-way flight to Houston, Texas, in a desperate bid to flee the territory before detectives could secure an arrest warrant. The brutal terminal beatdown, which spilled out into the roadway following the St. John Festival celebrations, has triggered widespread community outrage after video of the coordinates hit social media networks.
Chaos Breaks Out at the Turnstiles
The violent saga began unfolding at approximately 3:18 a.m. on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, when a Port Authority corporal providing security for the St. John Festival heard a loud commotion originating from the western turnstile gate of the Urman Victor Fredericks Marine Terminal in Red Hook.
Upon investigating, security personnel observed a massive, chaotic crowd engaged in a physical brawl that rapidly spilled directly into the terminal's main roadway. Port Authority and police officers rushed to intervene and disperse the fighting crowd.
Once the melee cleared, officers discovered an adult female victim lying motionless in the middle of the street. The victim had sustained a severely swollen eye socket, was bleeding heavily from her mouth, and was experiencing severe head pain. Emergency Medical Services stabilized the unresponsive woman and rushed her via ambulance to the Roy Lester Schneider Hospital for emergency trauma evaluation.
A Ferry Line Dispute Spills Over to St. Thomas
Detectives with the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) launched an immediate investigation, tracing the roots of the violence back to the ferry boarding lines in Cruz Bay hours earlier.
According to sworn statements gathered by police, the victim and her teenage companions had traveled to St. John to enjoy the carnival festivities. While waiting in a packed, chaotic line to board the early morning return boat to St. Thomas, a verbal argument erupted among nearby patrons regarding crowd pushing and shoved boundaries. A brief physical tussle occurred on the St. John side before bystanders and law enforcement successfully separated the parties, allowing passengers to board the vessel.
Believing the tension had dissolved during the calm boat ride back across the sound, the victim and her group disembarked at the Red Hook dock on St. Thomas. However, a bottleneck formed at the single open side exit gate, allowing a group of aggressive individuals to trail closely behind the victim's party.
The verbal dispute reignited instantly at the dock gates, with aggressors accusing the victim's group of physical contact during the St. John ferry chaos. The argument quickly turned physical as a larger mob swarmed the victim and her companions, dragging them towards the nearby parking lot area.
Viral Video Exposes Savage Stomping
The victim told detectives her final memory before losing consciousness was a heavyset woman stepping directly in front of her. She awoke in a hospital bed, vomiting and suffering from extensive facial trauma. Hospital personnel confirmed she sustained multiple facial fractures, a severe concussion, a bloodshot right eye, and a left eye that remained completely swollen shut from the force of the blows.
CIB detectives reviewed official Port Authority surveillance feeds alongside multiple viral videos circulating across local social media platforms. The graphic footage captured a horrifying scene: the victim was violently shoved to the ground, leaving her defenseless on her back.
As she lay completely incapacitated, a female suspect hovered over her while an accomplice repeatedly stomped directly on the victim's face. The viral video explicitly identified Kahiyla Charles as a primary aggressor, showing her repeatedly stomping on the victim's body alongside an unidentified male suspect. When the victim's young companions tried to intervene to pull the attackers away, they were violently thrown to the ground and assaulted by the surrounding mob.
The Airport BOLO and Surrender
By July 2, 2026, CIB detectives had formally identified Charles through viral footage analysis and coordinated with intelligence officials. Police Captain Dominguez received urgent intelligence indicating that Charles was actively planning to flee the jurisdiction.
An immediate "Be On the Look Out" (BOLO) alert was issued across transit hubs. System checks verified that Charles had already secured airline tickets to fly out of the territory to Houston on July 4, 2026, at 4:00 p.m..
With her escape route blocked by the BOLO and an official police wanted poster flooding local feeds, Charles's defense attorney contacted authorities to negotiate a surrender. At 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 5, 2026, Charles marched into the Richard N. Callwood Command alongside counsel, who advised police that his client would remain completely silent and offer no statements.
Charles was formally arrested and booked on three criminal counts:
Third-Degree Assault (Title 14 VIC § 297(a)(3), 11(a))
Simple Assault (Title 14 VIC § 299(2), 11(a))
Disturbance of the Peace (Title 14 VIC § 622(1), 11(a))
Bail was judicially set at twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00). Unable to secure the cash for her release, Charles was remanded directly to the custody of the Bureau of Corrections pending her formal Advice of Rights hearing. Police noted the case remains under active investigation as detectives work to identify the remaining suspects captured on video.
