Jovenel Assassinated at Home
Haitian President Jovenel Moïsewas assassinated in an attack at his residence, the country’s interim prime minister said, plunging the unstable Caribbean nation into fresh political turmoil and posing a challenge to U.S. policy makers.
A group of assailants carrying high-caliber weapons stormed the house in an upscale residential neighborhood about 1 a.m. local time on Wednesday, fatally shooting the president and wounding the first lady, Martine Moïse, said interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph. She was in a critical condition and taken to Miami for medical treatment, the Haitian government said.
“This was a highly coordinated attack by a highly trained and heavily armed group,” Mr. Joseph said, adding that the attackers spoke Spanish and English. Haiti is a French- and Creole-speaking country.
Four suspected killers of the president were fatally shot by National Police in a gunbattle in the affluent district where Mr. Moïse resided, Haiti police chief Leon Charles said Wednesday evening. Two others were captured.
Security forces also freed three police officers who had been held hostage by the alleged killers of the president, Mr. Charles said in a televised address.
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