After the 53-year-old president was shot dead in an attack on his private residence, police chief Leon Charles says authorities intercepted the assailants and arrested two of them.
- Jul 8, 2021
AceShowbiz - Haiti's security forces have killed four of suspected assassins who killed President Jovenel Moise at his home. After the 53-year-old president was assassinated in what has been described as an "inhuman and barbaric act," authorities have intercepted the assailants and arrested two of them, said police chief Leon Charles.
"The police are engaged in a battle with the assailants," he said at a news conference, noting that the authorities were still in pursuit of some suspects. "We are pursuing them so that, in a gunfight, they meet their fate or in gunfight they die, or we apprehend them."
Haiti's communications secretary Frantz Exantus earlier said that police had arrested the "presumed assassins" without providing any further details. The authorities also did not name any of the suspects or cite any evidence linking them to the assassination. Three police officers held hostage by the suspected gunmen were freed late Wednesday, July 7.
President Moise was shot dead in an attack at his private residence on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince on Wednesday. "The President was injured and succumbed to those injuries," said interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph. Moise's wife was also injured and she is reportedly transported to a hospital in southern Florida for treatment.
In a televised national address, Joseph declared a state of emergency across the country while assuring that the police and military were in control of security. "The situation is under control," he said.
Joseph then pledged for the nation to work with Moise's allies and opponents alike. "We need every single one to move the country forward," he later said in an interview with the Associated Press about the country's upcoming elections.
There has been a surge in politically charged violence in Haiti over the last few weeks as the country faces a growing humanitarian crisis.
