At least two people were killed and others injured on Tuesday when armed men opened fire on a group of journalists who gathered for a government press conference scheduled to announce the reopening of Haiti’s largest public hospital.
A journalist and a police officer were killed at the scene, a witness told Reuters.
Radio Télé Métronome said seven journalists and two police officers were wounded.
Johnson “Izo” André, considered Haiti’s most powerful gang leader and part of a gang coalition known as Viv Ansanm that has taken control of much of Port-au-Prince, posted a video on social media claiming responsibility for the attack.
The video said the gang coalition had not authorized the hospital’s reopening.
Haiti’s national police did not immediately respond to a request for information.
Video posted online showed reporters inside the building and at least three lying on the floor, apparently wounded. The video could not be immediately verified.
The transitional presidential council said in a post on Facebook that the act would not go without consequences.
“We express our sympathy to all the victims’ families, in particular, to the Haitian National Police and all the journalists’ associations,” it said.
Journalists were invited to arrive at the hospital from 8am (13.00 GT) to the press conference in the downtown area of the capital Port-au-Prince with Haiti’s new health minister. They were still awaiting the minister when shooting began at about 11am.
Health minister Duckenson Lorthe Blema was installed late November in a cabinet re-shuffle when former prime minister Garry Conille was ousted after just six months in office.
The State University of Haiti hospital, known locally as the general hospital, is the country’s largest public hospital but it has been closed since a March surge in gang attacks that saw former prime minister Ariel Henry ousted from power.
Authorities had pledged to reopen the facility on Tuesday. But as journalists gathered to cover the event, suspected gang members opened fire.
Gang attacks have pushed Haiti’s health system to the brink of collapse, looting, setting fires, and destroying medical institutions and pharmacies in the capital. The violence has created a surge in patients and a shortage of resources for treating them.
Haiti’s healthcare system faces additional challenges from the rainy season, which is likely to increase the risk of water-borne diseases. Poor conditions in camps and makeshift settlements have heightened the risk of diseases such as cholera, with more than 84,000 suspected cases in the country, according to Unicef.
Reuters and Associated Press contribute reporting
