By Jacqueline Charles and Johnny Fils-Aimé Updated December 25, 2024 7:55 PM| 2 Several journalists were shot and wounded on Tuesday after armed gangs opened fire on them as they awaited a press conference to announce the reopening of the country’s largest public hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince. By Johnny Fils-Aimé

At least two journalists and a police officer were killed Tuesday after armed gangs opened fire on them inside an old military hospital in Haiti’s capital. The attack also left at least seven journalists and two police officers injured with gunshot wounds.

The injured were being treated at La Paix Hospital after a specialized unit of the Haiti National Police went inside the facility that is part of the Hospital of the State University of Haiti, better known as the General Hospital, to rescue the wounded.

Police officers told a Miami Herald freelancer and other waiting journalists that they had left four bodies on the ground. After three ambulances arrived at the hospital, journalists identified two of the bodies inside one of the ambulances as online journalists Mackendy Nathoux and Jimmy Jean. A Haitian police spokesman could not be reached for comment.

The tragedy unfolded while the press was awaiting the arrival of Health Minister Duckenson Lorthe Blema to cover the reopening of the General Hospital, which had been closed for months because of gang attacks. As reporters waited inside for the arrival of Blema, they could hear gunfire out in the streets, where two armored police vehicles were patrolling.

Inside, final arrangements were being made for the minister’s visit. That’s when several armed men stormed the area outside and opened fire.

In a video shared online, long volleys of gunfire could be heard as bullets flew through the green iron gates of the General Hospital.

Other photos and videos shared online by some of the reporters trapped inside showed journalists lying on the floor covered in blood, with gunshots wounds to the head, chest and mouths. In one video, a journalist showed where a bullet had pierced his tongue.

“We haven’t found a nurse or anyone to give us first aid, anything,” a journalist who was not injured said as she pleaded for help. “Those who are the most vulnerable, we want to get them out of here.”

But getting out of the area proved difficult as police exchanged gunfire with gang members.

“The whole area is under siege,” Guyler Delva, head of the press freedom group SOS journalists, said before police moved in to rescue the trapped reporters. “Bandits are shooting all around. If the journalists go out into the street, they will be killed and no one is helping them. The situation is very worrisome. They are stranded.”

Delva blamed the Haitian government for the incident, saying the attack is part of a larger problem in which journalists are being targeted by the police as well as gangs. Reporters have reported being harassed by police while on assignment. Earlier this year Haitian authorities issued a list of journalists they were seeking to arrest, claiming they were working with gangs.

Last month the country’s telecommunications authority, CONATEL, shut down a popular program, Boukante la Pawol,hosted by Guerrier Henri, on Port-au-Prince’s Radio Mega after Henri allowed gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier to speak. Delva said the move infringed on press freedoms and was a throwback to the days Haiti was ruled by dictators.

“Journalists have been working with a lot of fear,” he said. “They realize that the government doesn’t care. They not only try to block them but they openly show they won’t intervene to help them.”

The Association of Haitian journalists also condemned the attack and called on authorities to avoid exposing journalists to danger. The group also asked on the authorities take immediate measures to provide all the necessary assistance to injured journalists and to the parents of those murdered in the exercise of their duties.

Both the prime minister’s office and ruling transitional council condemned the attack.

“What happened today on Christmas Eve at the General Hospital where people in the population, journalists and police were victims, is unacceptable,” Leslie Voltaire, the president of the council said, in a brief video message. “It will not stand without consequences.”

The General Hospital, the country’s largest public medical facility, had been closed since March when a united front of powerful gang leaders led attacks on police stations as well as the main airport, seaport and prison with the hope of toppling the government.

Since then, the violence has continued to escalate, with hospitals across Port-au-Prince shutting down.

In July Haitian authorities claimed that they had taken control of the General Hospital. But days later, the country’s prime minister was forced to run for cover, along with police officers, when armed gangs opened fire as he was giving a tour of the facility to visiting CNN journalists.

The Christmas Eve attack added to an avalanche of bad news for Haiti. On Monday, a ship transporting merchandise and vehicle to the southern region of the country capsized near Terminal Varreux in Port-au-Prince during loading. The incident was confirmed by the private port, but the extent of the casualties and damages were unclear. On Tuesday, as the gang attack was happening in Port-au-Prince, authorities in the northwest region confirmed the deaths of at least seven people from torrential rains that continued to hit the city of Port-de-Paix on Tuesday. Officials said that 10 others had been injured, while at least 100 houses had been destroyed and 500 others seriously damaged. About 11,000 houses were flooded and 20 vehicles were swept away. A bridge, constructed less than six months ago, also collapsed.

On Monday, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, issued a statement about Haiti’s escalating crisis. Her statements as president of the U.N. Security Council came on the same day the U.N. political office in Haiti issued a report on a recent gang massacre in the Wharf Jérémie neighborhood in the capital.

The report said at least 207 people, most of them elderly, were killed between December 6 and 11 by gang leader, Micanor Altès, after he accused most of them of using Vodou to make his son sick. Some of of the victims were also family members of the elderly, who had attempted to flee the area, or individuals suspected of having leaked information about the crimes to local media. The victims were tracked down at their homes and at a place of worship, then driven to the gang’s stronghold, where they were shot or killed with machetes. After the killings, Altès tried to erase all evidence, by burning the bodies or dismembering them, and then throwing them into the sea, the U.N. found.

The security council, Thomas-Greenfield said, is deeply concerned over the deteriorating situation in Haiti.