During an attack that took place at night, a group of assassins believed to have been highly trained fatally shot Haitian President, Jovenel Moise and wounded his wife, Martine Moise, in their private residence on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The assassination predictably rocked the country, brewing fear and confusion among the citizenry about what is to come.
The assassins charged into Mr. Moise’s residence sometime after the early morning hours. Official reports described the attack that included foreigners who spoke Spanish as well-planned.
President Moise relies on a high level of protection, usually traveling with more than a dozen armored cars and police guards. There are often 100 officers from the presidential guard around the stationed at the President’s residence, former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said.
Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Bocchit Edmond, stated that there was no specific warning of the attack.
Carl Henry Destin, a Haitian justice of the peace, said the president’s home had been peppered with holes and littered with bullet casings, and he had found the body of the president lying on the floor at the foot of his bed, “bathed in blood.”
“There were 12 holes visible in the body of the president that I could see,” he told The New York Times. “He was riddled with bullets.”
The president’s house had also been ransacked, said Mr. Destin. “Drawers were pulled out, papers were all over the ground, bags were open,” he said. Two servants had been tied up, he said.
Ms Moise was injured in the attack and was flown to the Ryder Trauma Center in Miami. She was in stable condition, according to the ambassador, Mr. Edmond.
The motive of the attackers is still unknown.
Two Americans are among the at least 20 people who have been arrested and detained thus far in connection with the assassination, Haitian officials said, confirming their assertions that “foreigners” were involved in the assault. The ambassador, Mr. Edmond, described the assailants as “well-trained professionals, killers, commandos.”
During a news conference at National Police Headquarters with the interim prime minister, the American suspects were identified as Joseph Vincent, 55, and James J. Solages, 35, Florida residents of Haitian descent. The other 18 detained suspects were described as Colombians.
Clément Noël, a judge who is involved with the investigation, said on Friday that Mr. Vincent and Mr. Solages claimed that they were not in the room when Mr. Moise was killed and that they had worked only as translators for the attackers.
The judge said the two met with other members of the assassins in a suburb of Port-au-Prince to plan the attack, which was planned for over a month. The judge said the men claimed that the goal was not to kill the president but to bring him to the national palace.
It’s still unknown what evidence the Haitian authorities have against the two men, when they had entered the country and what their connection might be to those in the hit squad identified as Colombian.
There are at least 6 more suspects on the run, authorities said. Security forces made the first arrests after engaging in a chaotic shootout.
Haitian government officials announced that they asked the United States provide troops to help preserve the country’s key infrastructures as the nation faces unrest from the assassination.
