A local justice of the peace said that Haitian President, Jovenel Moïse, was found riddled with a dozen bullets from several different types of guns after gunmen stormed into his home and killed him on Wednesday.
“We found twelve [bullet wounds] on the body of the president,” Pétion-Ville deputy justice of the peace, Carl Henry Destin said, adding that they were made with both large-caliber and smaller caliber weapons.
Destin told local media that Jovenel Moïse’s, the Haitian president, office and bedroom had been ransacked and that his eye was gouged out and that he had been shot in the forehead, hip, chest and abdomen.
While the president’s wife had been injured one of their children had been home but had not been attacked.
Destin stated that witnesses heard the assassins shout “DEA operation” when they entered the house.
According to the police, the hit squad was composed of mostly retired Colombian soldiers and two Americans.
The group included 26 Colombians and two Americans of Haitian origin. Eight of the suspects are still on the run while 17, including the two Americans were arrested. The remaining suspects were killed during a shootout with police.
Investigators are still trying to find the masterminds of the assassination, which has sparked civil unrest in the country. A state of emergency remains in force across the country.
The assassination has caused confusion over who is in charge of Haiti. According to their constitution, the president of the Supreme Court should take over but he recently died of Covid-19.
After the president of Supreme Court, the prime minister should be in charge, but the Monday before he died Moïse had nominated a new one who was has not been sworn in yet. However he insists he should be in charge.
Mr. Joseph, who is the interim prime minister, claimed he was puzzled by his statement. The UN has said that Mr. Joseph should remain in charge until the elections later this year. He has said that he will not stand for the presidency. “I’m not here to stay too long. We need to hold elections. I do not have a personal agenda,” he said.
Sources: BBC, Business Insider
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