A Haitian businessman was killed Thursday August 27 in an armed robbery in downtown Port-au-Prince at midday against his car. Wounded, his wife and their driver are hospitalized.
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“ The vehicle which was the target of fire had three occupants: Michel Saieh, his wife and the driver Carl Jérome. The attack was committed by unidentified individuals riding motorcycles, ”Gary Desrosiers, deputy spokesperson for the Haitian national police, told AFP. “ Michel Saieh died in the car, the two injured were evacuated to a hospital, ” he added.
On a video that quickly circulated on social networks, we can see the businessman, owner of a supermarket located not far from the scene of the attack, lying unconscious in the back seat. The police had not drawn up a security cordon, leaving onlookers to press against the vehicle. The circumstances and motives for this attack have not yet been established.
Insecurity pointed out in Haiti
The upsurge in insecurity in Haiti is regularly denounced by civil society actors and human rights organizations. At the end of June and beginning of July, two peaceful demonstrations organized in the capital to denounce this climate of insecurity had been forcefully repressed by the police.
Gang members then marched through the streets of downtown Port-au-Prince, showing off their weapons and firing regularly in the air. Between January and June 2020, the United Nations office in Haiti noted that at least 159 people had been killed and 92 others injured, including children, as a result of gang violence.