Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated on Wednesday in what was described as a coordinated attack.
Four suspects in assassination of Haitian president killed, 2 arrested
Haiti’s national police chief said Wednesday night that four suspects were killed and two others arrested following the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in the early morning hours.
Léon Charles, director of Haiti’s national police, also said that three policemen had been taken hostage, but that police released them. The Haitian government has blamed mercenaries for the attack.
Moïse was killed early Wednesday morning in what the country’s interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, described as a “hateful, inhuman and barbaric act.”
Joseph said a group of “highly trained and heavily armed” individuals attacked Moïse’s residence at around 1 am, shooting the president and his wife.
Moïse, who was 53 and took office in February 2017, was attacked at his home in a suburb of the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he was shocked and saddened to learn of Moïse’s murder and called it a heinous act.
Joseph called for calm in the country. He told The Associated Press that elections scheduled for later this year should be held and pledged to work with Moïse’s allies and opponents alike.
