CROIX-DES-BOUQUETS, Haiti (AP) – A prison director was among at least eight people killed on Thursday after several prisoners tried to escape from a prison in the capital of Haiti, a policeman and witnesses said.
The incident occurred in the northeast of Port-au-Prince, at the Croix-des-Bouquets Civil Prison, which was built by Canada in 2012 and is known for an escape in 2014 from which more than 300 prisoners escaped.
Residents of the area who declined to be identified out of concern for their safety told the Associated Press that they watched a group of heavily armed men start shooting at prison guards before inmates began to flee.
Shots could still be heard inside the prison several hours after the shooting started.
The police officer who confirmed to the AP the murder of the prison director and declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the authorities were preparing to raid the prison and described the prisoners as armed and dangerous.
At the time of the 2014 escape, the prison held 899 prisoners, about 130 over capacity.
During Thursday’s incident, a fugitive, Jhon Hippolyte, 37, was shot in the back. He told the AP that he was serving time for murder and was in the infirmary when he realized that everyone was running and decided to join them.
AP journalists saw the bodies of at least seven men in the streets near the prison. They were shot. Their identities were not immediately available and it was not clear whether they were inmates or who had killed them.
Video captured by residents shows a policeman leading a group of men tied with rope. It was not immediately clear whether they were interns.
The authorities could not be reached immediately for comment.