On Tuesday, November 19, 2024, bandits attempted to take control of Petion-ville and the neighborhoods of Canapé-Vert, Bourdon and Musseau, an upscale suburb of Port-au-Prince that is home to luxury hotels and some of the country’s wealthiest people.

According to Lionel Lazarre, Deputy Spokesperson for the Haitian National Police (PNH), two vehicles, a truck and a minibus carrying a large number of heavily armed men, who were going up the hill towards Petion-ville, were intercepted by law enforcement around 2 a.m. at Poste-Marchand and on Panamerican Avenue. Several of the bandits were killed on the spot during intense exchanges of fire with law enforcement. Others, forced to flee, were pursued and killed by residents, organized into self-defense groups and police officers, and their bodies burned on the public highway by the population.

The police interventions led to the seizure of several weapons, including at least 3 AK-47 assault rifles, several hundred rounds of ammunition and a drone.

In a provisional report, Lionel Lazarre indicated that at least 28 bandits had been killed during the police interventions and in a hunt initiated by self-defense groups of the population.

Lazarre indicated that the police continued to carry out operations to dislodge the bandits who fled and are hiding in the Bourdon Valley and in Pétion-Ville according to their information.

SL/ HaitiLibre