PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 26, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Multiple people were killed
Thursday in Haiti, including the director of a prison in the suburbs of
capital Port-au-Prince, after several inmates escaped, police said.
“Division inspector Paul Hector Joseph, who is in charge of the civil
prison of Croix des Bouquets, was killed in the prison,” Gary Desrosiers, the
spokesperson for the Haitian national police, told AFP.
“Multiple prisoners have escaped,” he added, without specifying the number.
At least six people were shot dead in the streets near the prison, an AFP
photographer observed. The victims’ identities could not be determined.
Around midday, inmates at the prison in the heart of downtown said they
heard bursts of gunfire.
Photos and videos showing men escaping the jail quickly went viral on
social media.
Employees at second-hand clothing stores located in a market adjacent to
the prison told an AFP photographer that they were forced to give their
merchandise to the escaped prisoners.
A large police force was mobilized to the prison, regaining control of the
building in the afternoon.
In 2014, more than 300 inmates successfully escaped the high-security
prison, which was built with Canadian funding and opened in 2012.