Mob in Haiti capital sets ablaze suspected gangsters
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A mob in Haiti’s capital beat and burned 13 suspected gang members to death with gasoline-soaked tires Monday after pulling the men from police custody at a traffic stop, police and witnesses said.
The horrific vigilante violence underscored public anger over the increasingly lawless situation in Port-au-Prince, where criminal gangs have taken control over an estimated 60% of the city since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
Six more burned bodies lay in a nearby neighborhood later Monday, and some witnesses said that the victims were killed by police and set ablaze by residents, but the AP could not verify the accounts independently.
An AP reporter at the scene saw 13 bodies burning in a street.
The fires drew hundreds of onlookers in the hilly suburb of the city, many of them shielding their noses from the fumes. The Canape Vert neighborhood so far has managed to evade control by the criminal gangs.
One hospital is standing its ground in one of the most violent parts of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.
A witness who gave his name as Edner Samuel said the suspects were believed to have been heading to another area to join a group of gang members who were battling police. Another witness, Jean Josue, said there had been a lot of shooting in the area since the early morning.
The situation in the capital was tense, and shots could be heard ringing out from several neighborhoods.
In the nearby area of Turgeau, a few minutes’ drive from Canape Vert, witnesses said that police had killed six gang suspects in a firefight, and that residents dragged the bodies from where they fell to a central location and set them on fire.
An AP reporter saw the six burned bodies. Police did not immediately release any statements about the violence in Turgeau.
Witnesses in Canape Vert said the suspects there were believed to have been members of the Kraze Barye gang, which translates to “Breaking Barriers.” Authorities say the group is led by Vitel’Homme Innocent, who is accused of helping kidnap 17 U.S. missionaries in October 2021 and also is linked to the assassination of Moise.
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