4 suspected in assassination of Haitian president killed, 2 more arrested

Haiti's national police chief said Wednesday night that four suspects were killed and two others arrested following the early-morning assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

Léon Charles, director of Haiti's national police, also said that three police officers had been held hostage but freed them.

Haiti's government has blamed mercenaries for the attack.

Moïse was killed early Wednesday. The country's acting prime minister, Claude Joseph, described it as a "hateful, inhumane and barbaric act."

Joseph said a group of "highly trained and heavily armed" people attacked Moïse's residence around 1 a.m., shooting the president and his wife.

First lady Martine Moïse was flown to Florida and receiving medical attention in Miami, Haiti's ambassador to the United States said.

Moïse, who was 53 and took office in February 2017, was attacked in his home in a suburb of the nation's capital, Port-au-Prince.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas.