A gang leader with ties to one of Haiti’s most powerful criminal organizations reportedly has been shot dead by police in Port-au-Prince.
Ernst Julme, the head of the Delmas 95 gang – which is part of gang leader Jimmy “Barbeque” Cherizier’s “Viv Ansanm” alliance – was gunned down Thursday weeks after his escape from custody in a massive jailbreak, Reuters reports.
His death came a day after two other suspected Haiti gang members were killed and set on fire in a suburb of Port-au-Prince in an apparent act of vigilante justice.
Jimmy Cherizier, a 46-year-old known by the nickname “Barbecue,” runs a gang coalition called the G9 Family and Allies, which has risen to become perhaps the most powerful gang in Haiti.
SUSPECTED HAITI GANG MEMBERS KILLED, SET ON FIRE IN APPARENT ACT OF VIGILANTE JUSTICE: REPORT
Police officers take part in a confrontation with gangs near the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Thursday, March 21. (Reuters/Ralph Tedy Erol/TPX Images of the Day)
The apparent vigilante killings in Pétion-Ville – a suburb of the Caribbean country’s capital – happened as Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste reported Wednesday that at least 15 people have died in attacks around that area, which is home to numerous embassies, according to Reuters.
A Reuters journalist there said they saw the two suspected gang members killed and set on fire. Earlier, the news agency said footage it viewed showed the individuals’ bodies lying and being dragged around on the street, with one of the men with his hands cut off.
One of the suspected gang members also had their family home set on fire, Reuters is reporting.
WHO IS ‘BARBECUE,’ THE GANG LEADER WREAKING HAVOC IN HAITI?
A man holds a machete while walking near a pile of burning mattresses and the remains of the motorcycle of suspected gang leader Makandal, who was killed and set on fire by local residents, during an escalation in gang violence near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 20. (Reuters/Ralph Tedy Erol)
The UN Security Council released a statement the same day saying its members “strongly condemned the violence and the attacks carried out by the armed gangs and stressed the need for the international community to redouble its efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the population and to support the Haitian National Police, including through building its capacity to restore law and order.”
“The members of the Security Council expressed grave concern at the illicit flow of arms and ammunition into Haiti that remains a fundamental factor of instability and violence,” that statement added.
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department announced Thursday that it has evacuated more than 160 Americans out of Haiti since Sunday.
A police officer guards the entrance of the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Sunday, March 10. (AP/Odelyn Joseph)
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“We reiterate our message to U.S. citizens: Do not travel to Haiti,” the agency also said, according to The Associated Press. “We have been stressing that the U.S. government cannot guarantee U.S. citizens will be evacuated given the situation on the ground.”
Fox News’ Michael Lee contributed to this report.
