Police are hunting for the mastermind of the assassination of the President of Haiti.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haitian police killed four suspects in the assassination of President Jovenel Moise and arrested six more people, including two Haitian Americans, Thursday (8/7). Authorities are looking for the mastermind behind the shocking murder.
Haitian Police Chief Leon Charles said authorities had tracked the suspected killer to a house near the crime scene in Petionville, a hillside northern suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince. Fierce gunfight lasted until late at night on Wednesday (7/7).
This search resulted in the arrest of six suspects. Meanwhile, four bodies were taken by the authorities. There have been strict patrols in the area since Thursday morning. “We have a physical suspect, now we are looking for an intellectual suspect,” Charles said.
Haiti’s Minister of Elections and Inter-Party Relations, Mathias Pierre, said two Haitian Americans were among those detained. He identified one of them as James Solages, a US citizen of Haitian descent, but did not name the others.
Moise was shot dead Wednesday morning at his home by a team of trained assassins who appeared to be from the foreign side. The event plunged America’s poorest nation deeper into chaos amid widespread political division, hunger, and gang violence.
Crowds of locals gathered on Thursday morning to watch the police operation take place, with some setting fire to the suspect’s car and the house where they had been hiding. Bullets scattered on the road.
“Burn them!” shouted some of the hundreds of people gathered outside the police station where the suspects were being held.
Charles said local residents had been helping police track down the suspects but he appealed to residents in the seaside town to take the law into their own hands.
A 15-day state of emergency was declared after the killings to help authorities catch the perpetrators. However, interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said a day later it was time for the economy to reopen and said he had given instructions to airports to restart operations.
source : Reuters
– .
