4 Officers killed by gang members in Haiti

4 Haitian Police officers were killed and five others injured in a gun battle in the nation's capital of Port-au-Prince. Gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, a former elite police officer claimed responsibility for the attacks.

On Thursday the first of March, gunmen opened fire on multiple targets which included Haiti’s international airport, the perpetrators also gained control of two police stations creating a frenzy within several communities attempting to flee the area, and surrounding schools and businesses shut down in fear of the attack.

Spokesman Garry Desrosiers stated in an interview that “The city was at war”. Former police officer and current leader of the gang known as G9 and family and allies, Jimmy Cherizier claimed responsibility for these heinous acts.

The motivation behind these attacks was to stop the return of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was just in Kenya involved in talks to push for the United Nations backed deployment of police from the nation to fight against the gangs in Haiti; the plan also involved capturing Haiti’s chief of Police Leon Charles. Fortunately, the chief of police and government ministers were not harmed during Thursday’s attack.

As of this time, for the most part, the city remains peaceful and the airport has resumed operations with heightened security. However, the United States Embassy reported sounds of heavy gunfire surrounding the airport and has temporarily halted all officials from travelling to the airport. Schools and businesses in the surrounding region still remain closed, the capital downtown has been reported to be a “ghost town” following Thursday's attack.

Desrosiers stated that young officers fought against the onslaught of attacks to guarantee the region's security, saying they could not reach the station in time to prevent the attack. Desrosiers suggested that the police force suffered from insufficient equipment and logistical planning to counter the attack properly. He closes his statement by saying “Despite everything we had to deal with, the will was there”.

Haiti’s police force only has about 9000 on-duty officers in a country with a population of over 11 million. As of this point in time, the Prime Minister has not publicly commented on the situation and gave no proper response when asked if he felt safe to return to Haiti from Kenya.