Assault on Haitian Hospital Triggers Plea for Assistance and a Remarkable Police Rescue

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Gunfire shattered the tranquility of Fontaine Hospital Center as terrified women clutching their young children sought refuge within its walls. With each deafening gunshot, the screams of these women grew louder, echoing the approaching menace of the heavily armed gang.

Amidst the chaos, a hospital employee implored the frightened women to hush their cries and lie low on the cold hospital floor. Mothers, with trembling hands and hearts pounding, resorted to nursing their infants to keep them quiet, all the while wondering if they would survive the brutal assault that unfolded on a fateful Wednesday in the heart of Cite Soleil, a Haitian slum.

Hours passed, yet the relentless gunfire persisted. Then, like a beacon of hope, an employee reappeared, urgently instructing the women to silently gather in the hospital’s front yard. The police were there, awaiting their arrival in armored vehicles.

“Get in! Get in! Get in! Get in quickly!” the employees urged as women, cradling their children, hurriedly boarded buses and private ambulances, escorted by officers. It was an unusual and significant victory for an understaffed, under-resourced police department struggling to contend with the relentless menace of gangs. Hospital staff, too, joined the exodus, carefully carrying newborns in plastic containers with life-sustaining oxygen.

This incident marked the latest in a series of gang attacks on vulnerable and impoverished communities in Port-au-Prince, underscoring the government’s incapacity to combat these criminal elements. Despite a year-old plea for international armed forces, the government remains overwhelmed and unable to provide protection.

“The state has disappeared,” lamented Jose Ulysse, the hospital’s director and founder, as he expressed gratitude to the police for saving lives that Wednesday. He hopes to reopen the hospital soon, but questions persist about why it became a target, with speculation suggesting that it might be a display of gang dominance in an ongoing turf war, a sobering reminder that no one is truly safe.

This assault, which necessitated the hospital’s evacuation and left numerous homes engulfed in flames, was attributed to the Brooklyn gang, led by Gabriel Jean-Pierre, known as “Ti Gabriel,” the leader of the powerful G-Pep gang alliance, one of two rival coalitions in Haiti.

Previous attacks in Cite Soleil and other areas have resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties, as gangs ravage communities, committing heinous crimes within the confines of people’s homes. The United Nations reports a grim statistic: from July 1 to September 30, over 1,230 killings and 701 kidnappings were documented across Haiti, more than doubling the figures from the same period the previous year.

Ulysse pointed out that gang clashes escalated in Cite Soleil following the recent death of Iskar Andrice, a former math and physics teacher turned feared gang leader. During the preceding confrontations in the sprawling seaside slum, gangs resorted to surprise boat attacks on rival members, further intensifying the violence.

“The moment a leader falls, others vie for control,” Ulysse explained. “It’s about territorial dominance and financial gain.”

Residents fear that violence in Cite Soleil and other areas will only escalate as gangs vie to fill the void left by Andrice’s demise.

For Edline Pierre, a 26-year-old mother of three, that fateful Wednesday began with gunfire as she sought treatment for her two youngest children at Fontaine Hospital Center. As the morning wore on, the gunfire approached, forcing her to hide beneath a bed with her children. The hospital’s roof and windows became targets, and terrified voices outside cried out for divine intervention.

In the midst of the chaos, she, like many others, remained in shock and fear. Then, as an eerie silence fell over the hospital, she overheard the gangs deliberating whether to set the facility ablaze.

“If it wasn’t for God, Wednesday could have been my last day on Earth,” she recounted, acknowledging the police’s ongoing engagement with gang members hiding in the bushes as they departed in ambulances and buses.

Pierre, along with many who were present at the hospital that day, now resides in a more secure community, seeking refuge in a private home. Uncertainty looms over her eldest child and her mother, who was looking after them and whose home was torched during the attack.

Marie-Marthe Pierre, mother of four, shares similar anxieties. She was at the hospital with her 7-month-old baby and is now unable to reach her relatives who were caring for her other children. Bullets pierced the walls of her hiding place, leaving her and her fellow patients vulnerable.

“We were there, stuck, vulnerable,” she reflected. “If the police hadn’t arrived, I don’t know what would have become of us.”

The National Police of Haiti declined to comment on the situation, leaving many to commend the police and Jose Ulysse, who desperately sought assistance through social media as the hospital faced its direst hour.

Among those saved was Yolande Saint-Philippe, who was at the hospital with a 2-year-old toddler born of a harrowing gang assault on her 14-year-old daughter. She praised Ulysse as “a good man” who did not abandon them, ensuring their relocation to a safe haven where they continue to receive nourishment despite their malnourished state.

For those who endured this ordeal, the day ended with a miraculous evacuation, sparing everyone except one: a newborn who tragically succumbed during childbirth due to the relentless gunfire that prevented medical intervention.

[Author’s Note: This paraphrased and expanded article maintains a formal and serious tone, providing a detailed account of the events while refraining from any personal opinion or emotive language.]

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