Haitian President Jovenel Moise was shot dead by unidentified attackers in his private residence overnight in an "inhuman and barbaric act", Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said on Wednesday.
Emily Wither reports.
Jovenel Moïse
Claude Joseph
Haiti
CaribbeanA president killed overnight at his home - the Interim Haitian Prime Minister Claude Joseph - announcing the news Wednesday (July 7) that President Jovenel Moise had been shot dead.
Calling the killing an "inhuman and barbaric act", he said Moise was shot by unidentified attackers.
He added that Moise's wife was injured and was receiving medical care.
The attack comes amid a rising wave of politically linked violence in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
With Haiti politically divided, and facing a growing humanitarian crisis and shortages of food, there are fears of widespread disorder.
Gunshots could be heard throughout Port-au-Prince.
The capital has been suffering an increase in violence as gangs battle one another and police for control of the streets.
That violence fueled by an increase in poverty and political instability.
Moise has faced fierce protests since he took office as president in 2017, with the opposition accusing him this year of seeking to install a dictatorship by overstaying his mandate - charges he denied.
Authorities conducted a search warrant at a Weston home linked to the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise.
Claude Joseph, who has nominally led Haiti as acting prime minister since the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, told..
