Several incidents left at least six people dead, including a 95-year-old woman and a 7-year-old boy, and injured others around Haiti’s capital. The incidents took place in downtown Port-au-Prince, Martissant and Croix-des-Bouquets on Nov. 4 and Nov. 6, according to the Le Nouvelliste and local news station Radio Metropole.
Haitian authorities have not confirmed posts about the killings circulating on social media, where several users said 13 people had probably been killed in one incident, according to local news station Radio Metronome.
One incident took place Nov. 6, in the area of Tremblay, Croix-des-Bouquets. Bandits killed Marc Stanis, 7, when they opened fire on a vehicle he was riding in, fatally striking the boy in the neck and face. His father Stinfinson Stanis, a pastor, suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and a second child in the vehicle was injured in the hand. The pastor’s wife, who was also present, was not injured in the attack.
In nearby Michaud several hours earlier, Marie Sonia Brisseault Osias, 61, was shot in the chest and died at the scene. Hermano Alexandre, the Croix-des-Bouquets justice of the peace, told Le Nouvelliste that her death report was hastily drawn because armed members of the 400 Mawozo were still in the area, making it difficult to inquire further.
Over in Martissant, a locality south of Port-au-Prince, another group of bandits killed two people and injured three others that Saturday. Esperanta Guerrier, 95, and her driver Réginald Chéry, were killed in their vehicle while trying to pass through a stretch of road occupied by armed gangs. Three others riding in the vehicle were seriously injured.
Moïse Jean, justice of the peace of Carrefour, said the bodies were transported to the police station of the Haitian National Police of Carrefour, commonly known as Omega.
On Nov. 4, the bandits also set up checkpoints on Boulevard Jean Jacques Dessalines in downtown Port-au-Prince, according to Radio Métropole. They shot at a tap-tap taxi and injured all the passengers, two of whom later died of their injuries.
Those bandits also kidnapped some motorists and passengers. No official data has been released about the number of people abducted from that operation.