Police race to respond after gangs storm Kenscoff, kidnapping dozens

At least 47 people were killed and more than 50 others kidnapped after armed men attacked a once-peaceful community near Haiti’s capital earlier this week, the United Nations said Tuesday.

It is believed to be one of the largest mass kidnappings in Haiti in recent years, and one gang leader is threatening to kill the hostages if authorities kill any gang members as they try to secure the community nestled in the hills above Port-au-Prince.

Sunday’s attack on Kenscoff pierced the belief that security in the troubled Caribbean country was improving. In a video posted on social media, the gang leader showed some of the hostages while threatening Vladimir Paraison, director of Haiti’s National Police, warning that he should refrain from using drones to repel gangs in the area.

“Paraison, if any of our soldiers are hurt, I will kill all of them,” he said, referring to the hostages. The gang member only identified himself as Izo 2, a reference to Izo, or Johnson André, one of Haiti’s most powerful gang leaders. 17-year-old Kenscoff resident Kenson Paul said gangs kidnapped his father, mother, and 6 other family members.

His 16-year-old sister was also kidnapped and raped but managed to escape. The high school student and farmer escaped through a back window. “I hope the state can help everyone come back home. We are just farmers. We are not involved in anything,” Said Paul.

The attack might also just be a show of force and a message to Haiti’s government and police as the country prepares to hold general elections on Dec. 13 for the first time in more than a decade. The first major attack on Kenscoff occurred in January 2025, and since then, there have been sporadic attacks in the mountains surrounding the city center. But Sunday’s attack was the largest yet.

At least five of the 47 people killed were children, according to the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, known as BINUH. Kenscoff Mayor Jean Massillon told The Associated Press on Tuesday that two government employees were among those killed, including his cousin, who served as his security detail.

He said that members of Viv Ansanm, a powerful gang coalition that the United States has designated as a foreign terrorist organization, also set fire to 25 homes. Information about the attack is still trickling out, with Massillon warning that gangs were still roaming Kenscoff’s periphery. “Gangs have killed many people in their homes In one instance, gang members locked people inside a house and set it on fire with them still inside,” said Massillon.

Some survivors accused the government of not providing enough protection prior to the attack, with Haiti’s National Police rejecting those accusations. Armed men control an estimated 70% of Port-au-Prince and swaths of land in Haiti’s central region and beyond.

Gang violence has displaced a record 1.5 million people across Haiti, where more than 3,050 people were reported killed from January to June and another 1,400 injured, according to U.N. statistics released Tuesday. At least 81 people also were reported kidnapped during that time period, according to a new U.N. report.