Hundreds attend funeral in Haiti for 4 victims of brutal gang attack that killed 47

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Hundreds of people crowded into a church near Haiti’s capital on Sunday for the funeral of four of the 47 people killed in a recent gang attack so brutal that it shook a country that has long struggled with violence.

Mourners wiped away tears, raised their hands and cried out as coffins arrived at a church in the farming community of Kenscoff.

“We thank everyone who came in solidarity with the families that died and those who lost their loved ones,” Pastor Jean Robert Dorlus said. “God will open a space to receive them.”

Armed men attacked Kenscoff on Aug. 23, killing at least 47 people and kidnapping more than 50 others in the middle of the night. It was one of the biggest mass kidnappings in Haiti in recent years, and survivors have organized protests and blamed police for not preventing the attack, which pierced the belief that security in the troubled Caribbean country was improving.

Inside the church, people swayed to gospel music. Some wailed as their shoulders shook. The church was so packed that dozens had to stand outside, peering through the windows, as they honored those being laid to rest: a mother, father and their son, and a 70-year-old man whose body had been set on fire by the gang members.

“I’ve known them for a long time,” said Yvon Marleus, a Kenscoff resident who lost a cousin in the attack. “These are people who are respected in the community.”

“They didn’t act in time to stop the carnage,” Marleus alleged, referring to police.

Haiti’s National Police has said that it ordered an investigation to establish the truth about the attack, and whether it was “due to complicity or negligence.”

Outside the church, civilians stood guard with automatic weapons, ready to repel any potential new gang attacks with the help of police officers stationed nearby.

Kenscoff resident Jean Calixte Juste said he and two cousins survived the attack “by luck.”

“I almost died,” he recalled. “I almost fell into a ravine running. This is the worst and most terrible night I’ve ever experienced.”

He didn’t know the four people whose funerals were held Sunday, but he said he wanted to honor their memories.

It wasn’t clear when funerals of the other victims might be held.

On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV condemned the massacre.

“I express my prayerful closeness to the victims and their families and ask that all the hostages be released without delay,” he said. “I make a heartfelt appeal to all those responsible to make a concrete commitment to ensuring the safety of the population and putting an end to every form of violence.”

Marta Hurtado, a spokesperson for the U.N. Human Rights Office, said some 150 heavily armed gang members participated in the Aug. 23 attack. She said they first killed 13 people who tried to flee and then pursued 50 more who had sought refuge inside a church.

“After forcing them out from the premises, they executed 22 of them on the church courtyard and 12 others behind the church,” she said.

Dozens of others were injured, and more than 2,600 people were left homeless.

The gang later released six children and seven women following an intervention by community leaders and UNICEF, but dozens remain abducted.

Armed men control an estimated 70% of Port-au-Prince and swaths of land in Haiti’s central region and beyond, and they are also seeking to seize territory in Kenscoff.

Gang violence has displaced a record of nearly 1.5 million people across Haiti, where more than 3,050 people were reported killed from January to June, according to U.N. statistics.

“I’m ready to leave,” said Juste, one of the residents. “Because after this, I don’t think we’re going to survive another big attack.”

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Coto reported from Havana.