Suspected Haiti gang members killed, set on fire in apparent act of vigilante justice: report
Two suspected Haitian gang members have been killed and set on fire in a suburb of Port-au-Prince in an apparent act of vigilante justice against the armed groups terrorizing the Caribbean country, a report says.
The killings in Pétion-Ville happened as Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported Wednesday that at least 15 people have died in attacks around that area, which is home to numerous embassies, according to Reuters. Locals in Pétion-Ville reportedly became involved in a shootout.
A Reuters journalist there said they saw two suspected gang members killed and set on fire. Earlier, the news agency said footage it viewed showed the individuals’ bodies lying and being dragged around on the street, with one of the men with his hands cut off.
One of the suspected gang members also had their family home set on fire, Reuters is reporting.
AMERICAN FAMILY HAITI DESCRIBES ‘WAR ZONE,’ BELIEVES IT WILL FALL TO GANGS IN A WEEK
People in the communities that were attacked Wednesday called radio stations pleading for help from Haiti's national police force, which remains understaffed and outmatched by the gangs. Among the communities targeted in the pre-dawn hours were Meyotte, Diègue and Métivier.
"When I woke up to go to work, I found I could not leave because the neighborhood was in the hand of the bandits," resident Samuel Orelus told The Associated Press. "They were about 30 men with heavy weapons. If the neighborhood had mobilized, we could have destroyed them, but they were heavily armed, and there was nothing we could do."
By Wednesday afternoon, another victim had been reported; a police officer killed in broad daylight in a Port-au-Prince neighborhood known as Delmas 72, according to the SYNAPOHA police union.
US EVACUATES AMERICAN CITIZENS FROM PORT-AU-PRINCE
As the attacks continued, the U.S. State Department announced Wednesday that it had completed its first evacuation of American citizens from Port-au-Prince. More than 15 Americans were airlifted to neighboring Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said during a briefing that "As of March 20th, the U.S. government is facilitating the safe departure of U.S. citizens from Port-au-Prince, Haiti."
"We are in the process of organizing government-chartered helicopter flights from Port-au-Prince to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, where U.S. government personnel are present to provide consular assistance. And from Santo Domingo, American citizens will be responsible for their own onward travel to the United States," he added.
Patel also said the number of Americans who have filled out a form on the State Department’s website seeking assistance in Haiti is "approaching 1,600" after saying that number was around 1,000 earlier in the week.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.