PORT-AU-PRINCE, 08 July 2021 (TON): Prime minister Dr. Claude Joseph said “Haiti President Jovenel Moise was killed at his house last night by unkown gunmen.”

In a communique, Interim Prime minister Dr. Claude Joseph added the First Lady Martine Moïse had also been wounded and was being treated.

Interim Prime Minister Joseph condemned what he called a hateful, inhumane and barbaric act, adding that Haiti’s National Police and other authorities had the situation in the Caribbean country under control.

The killing late comes amid deepening political and economic stability and a spike in gang violence.

The nation of more than 11 million people had grown increasingly unstable and disgruntled under Moïse's rule.

Its economic, political and social woes have deepened, with gang violence spiking heavily in the capital of Port-au-Prince, inflation spiraling and food and fuel becoming scarcer at times in a country where 60% of the population makes less than $2 a day.

These troubles come as Haiti still tries to recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew that struck in 2016.