A US citizen is among those arrested in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse
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Natalie Musumeci
Jul 9, 2021, 03:29 IST
Law enforcement with the Police Nationale of Haiti looks on as the crowd surrounds the Petionville Police station where suspects are being held.
Valerie Baeriswyl / Getty Images
A US citizen was arrested in connection with Haitian President Jovenel Moïse's killing.
A Haitian official on Thursday identified James Solages as a suspect.
Moïse was assassinated at his home by a group of armed assailants early Wednesday.
James Solages, a US national of Haitian descent, was identified on Thursday as one of six people arrested in Moïse's killing in his home early on Wednesday, Mathias Pierre, Haiti's minister of elections and interparty relations, told the outlets.
One other person who was apprehended is also believed to be a Haitian American, Pierre said. He did not identify the person.
A website for a nonprofit that Solages helped establish in South Florida described him as the president of the board of directors and said he was "the chief commander of body-guards" for the Canadian Embassy in Haiti, the AP reported.
"Preceding his tenure as a consultant, his career began as a volunteer in different nonprofit organization assisting communities in need and Haiti," a bio on the website said. "Mr. Solages is a youth leader and an advocate for underprivileged kids."
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The bio also described Solages as a "certified diplomatic agent" and a "building engineer."
The nonprofit did not immediately return Insider's requests for comment.
Moïse, 53, was assassinated by a group of armed assailants who burst into his home at about 1 a.m. on Wednesday.
His wife, first lady Martine Moïse, was critically injured in the attack and flown to Miami for treatment for her gunshot wounds.
Léon Charles, the director of Haiti's National Police, told reporters on Thursday that six suspects had been apprehended in connection with the fatal ambush.
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Authorities have said four other people believed to be involved in the assassination were killed in a shootout with the police.
Charles said Haitian authorities were still looking for more assailants. "The pursuit of the mercenaries continues," he said, according to the AP. "Their fate is fixed: They will fall in the fighting or will be arrested."
Pierre told The Post that suspects were being held at a police station in the capital and that a mob had surrounded it.
"The special units are trying to protect the police station, because the population is very mad and is trying to get to them, to burn them," Pierre said. "We're trying to avoid that."
The identities of the other suspects were unclear. Pradel Henriquez, Haiti's communications minister, described them as "foreigners," The Post reported.
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