Deadly Haiti Gang Raid Leaves 47 Killed, 50-Plus Hostages Taken

On Aug. 23, a gang in Haiti raided the town of Kenscoff near the nation’s capital of Port-au-Prince, killing at least 47 and kidnapping more than 50 others. 

The town’s mayor, Jean Massillon, said gang members “sowed chaos” as they burned 25 homes and gunned down people overnight, the Haitian Times reported. Other than those killed or kidnapped, 22 people were injured. 

Not even a church offered refuge. Twenty-two people were reportedly killed inside a church while sheltering from the violence. Among those targeted was Jean William Pape, a prominent public health expert.

Massillon has accused members of the Viv Ansanm group — which was declared a “foreign terrorist organization” by the U.S. government last year — for the attack. 

“The atrocity of this crime reminds us that we have to continue working stronger every day to bring peace to the community,” Massillon said. “I’m optimistic that the state will continue working to eradicate the gangs in Kenscoff.”

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Haiti’s prime minister’s office vowed to respond to the attack, declaring on social media that “Kenscoff will not be abandoned” and that “The government’s authority will be restored, without weakness and without delay.”

However, after more than 50 people were taken away, a gang leader known only as Izo 2 — named after Izo, one of Haiti’s most notorious gang leaders — threatened Vladimir Paraison, director of the Haitian National Police, that he would kill the hostages if any gang members were killed during operations.

“Paraison, if any of our soldiers are hurt, I will kill all of them,” Izo 2 warned.

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Cries of fear and anger

The United Nations has named this attack one of the largest kidnappings in Haiti’s recent history. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Aug. 25 condemned the act, saying that it undermines “the alarming security situation in Haiti and reinforce[s] the urgent need to intensify Haitian and international security efforts to combat gangs.”

As armed gang members stormed the town, residents have had to suffer horrid experiences, including losing loved ones and fearing for their own lives.

One resident, Marc Paul, said gang members kidnapped his brother, stepparents and two cousins. His 16-year-old niece was also abducted and raped before escaping and reuniting with him.

“I had to run over bodies,” Marc told the Associated Press as he decribed how he fled.

Coriolan Kendy, another resident, told Reuters of how he blamed the government for the pain, all while standing by his cousin’s blood-stained body.

“People in Kenscoff are suffering and the government is to blame,” he said.

An anonymous resident told Radio France Internationale (RFI) that his mother and siblings were also kidnapped. 

“In my family, I am the only one who was lucky enough to be saved,” he said. “My mother, my sisters, my brothers, are all in the hands of the bandits. They’ve been kidnapped. There were nine of us in the house when the attack happened.”

With his house burned, his official records, including his birth certificate and exam results, have been lost.

“I will ask the authorities to help me pay for my education and also to help me secure the release of my family members if the bandits have not killed them.”

Following these violent attacks, Haiti’s national police faces growing pressure from the populace, who have grown tired of the government’s slow progress against gangs.

The farming community of Kenscoff was already a target for gang attacks, with a dozen attacks hitting the town since last year, al-Jazeera wrote. Thousands were displaced following these strikes.

According to Maria Fernanda Arocha, researcher with the nonprofit Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, the town offers a strategic location as it overlooks the capital, making it a prime target for gangs to better control the community of Petion-Ville and other paths to Port-au-Prince.

The United Nations (UN) warned that gang attacks are “spreading geographically even as the authorities’ anti-gang campaign intensifies in Port-au-Prince,” adding that more than 3,050 people are estimated to have been killed in Haiti between January and June alone.

“These figures show that the population continues to bear an unacceptable toll from violence,” Carlos Ruiz Massieu, the UN’s top representative in Haiti, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Kenscoff raid came as the Haitian government wished to hold its first general election in more than a decade. The last elected senators had ended their terms in 2023. Multiple delays were made supposedly due to security concerns, though a general election is planned for December.

Human rights watch organization Amnesty International has also called out the massacre, urging the Haitian government to take better action to quell the violence.