Haitian gang attacks church, killing and kidnapping dozens, including children
Haiti’s most powerful gang coalition, Viv Ansanm, last week attacked and killed 47 people and kidnapped another 50. Many of the victims, including children, had taken refuge in a church and were executed there.
The attacks began at 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 23 and continued through the following morning, sweeping through the Kenscoff commune, an agricultural settlement in the hills near Port-au-Prince.
According to International Christian Concern, the gang’s primary target was Ark of the New Testament, an evangelical church. Dozens of people were hiding in the church’s prayer center when the gang attacked and executed 22 people within the church compound.
The latest attack highlights the ongoing violence that’s terrorized the country and the inability or unwillingness of local police to stop it. The United Nations reports that at least 1,408 people were killed and 656 injured from April through June as gang violence spread beyond the capital city, Port-au-Prince.
According to the Associated Press, Haitian National Police Spokesman Garry Desrosiers answered few questions at a news conference last Thursday. When asked what authorities plan to do about those kidnapped, Desrosiers said, “We cannot talk about any plans.”
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The AP reported that one gang leader is threatening to kill all the hostages if any gang members are killed by police as they work to secure Kenscoff.
“This recent event is yet another example of how gangs rely on large-scale killings of civilians to subdue the local population and establish their authority,” stated María Fernanda Aroch of Armed Conflict Location and Event Data.
Also responding to the tragedy was Amnesty International. The group called on the Haitian government to stop the violence and protect citizens.
“Sadly, we are once again witnessing another massacre in Haiti,” said Astrid Valencia, deputy regional director for Research for the Americas. “We urge the Haitian authorities and the international community to redouble their efforts to protect people from the escalating violence by armed gangs.”
The latest gang attack prompted the Archbishop of Miami Thomas G. Wenski to urge the U.S. to “rethink” ending its deportation of hundreds of thousands of Haitians. More than 330,000 Haitians were in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) as of 2025. But on Aug. 5, a U.S. District Court affirmed the Supreme Court’s ruling in June, which allowed the Trump administration to end the TPS designation for Haiti.
“This shows that the country is not safe, that Haiti is still a house on fire,” Wenski told OSV News.
Wenski urged President Trump to support a bill before the Senate that would extend TPS through April 20, 2029.
“Haiti is a tragedy, and what we’re doing is compounding it by trying to send these people back,” Wenski said.
Despite the ongoing violence, Wenski said he had talked with Archbishop Max Leroy Mésidor of Port-au-Prince whose resolve to serve was not shaken. “(T)he Church has to continue its mission in good times and bad,” Mésidor reportedly told Wenski.