Judge: attackers planned to arrest, not kill Moïse
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A judge investigating the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse says two Haitian-Americans arrested in the case were acting as translators for a larger group of attackers that originally planned to arrest, not kill the leader, the Le Nouvelliste newspaper reported Friday.
Speaking to the French-language newspaper, Judge Clément Noël didn’t elaborate on what grounds the group sought to arrest Moise. Noël said one of the suspects, James Solages, told him he “found this job on the internet.”
Solages had been in Haiti for only a month and the other US citizen arrested, Joseph Vincent, for six months, Noël said.
A separate judge, Fidélito Dieudonné, said four of the 15 Colombians arrested in the case entered Haiti on June 6 after passing through the Dominican Republic.
Noël also told the newspaper that police confiscated weapons used by the attackers, including pistols, cartridges, the server of the surveillance camera at Moïse’s home, a checkbook for the president and his wife, axes, wire cutters, clothes, food, cell phones and cash.
Haitian police say they have arrested 17 people in all in Wednesday’s killing and are looking for more. They have not revealed a possible motive.