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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A spokesman for Haiti’s National
Police said Thursday that officers killed former rebel leader
Wilfort Ferdinand after they accused him of opening fire at a
police checkpoint in the coastal town of Gonaïves earlier this
week.
Ferdinand was a suspected gang leader who played a key role in
the 2004 uprising that ousted former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.
“Police had no intention of killing anyone,” police spokesman
Michel-Ange Louis Jeune told The Associated Press of Tuesday’s
shooting.
He said that Ferdinand had approached the checkpoint in a car
with tinted windows only to back up and then open fire on
officers, who returned fire and killed him and an unidentified
person traveling with him.
Jeune said it was a routine checkpoint aimed at cracking down on
the Kokorat San Ras gang, which operates in the Artibonite
region and is known for its extreme violence.
Local media reported that shortly after the killing, heavy
gunfire was heard in the area.
Gruesome pictures of the killing were shared on social media,
sparking ongoing protests in Gonaïves that have shut down
businesses.
Ferdinand was known as Ḳmandan Ti Wil and led the Artibonite
Resistance Front. He was an ally of Guy Philippe, another former
rebel leader.
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