Photo: Joseph Odelyn/AP/Shutterstock

Suspects in the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise are shown to the media at the General Direction of the police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, . Moise was assassinated in an attack on his private residence early Wednesday President Killed, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti - 08 Jul 2021

Seventeen suspects are in custody in relation to the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, two of which are believed tohold dual U.S.-Haitian citizenship, according to the Associated Press.

Haitian officials have identified the pair as James Solages and Joseph Vincent. Solages, 35, is believed to be the youngest of those detained.

The remaining 15 detainees are from Columbia, according to Haiti’s police chief Léon Charles.

On Thursday, Charles said police were looking for eight more suspects, while three have been killed.

Joseph Odelyn/AP/Shutterstock

Suspects in the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moise, among them Haitian-American citizens James Solages, left, and Joseph Vincent, second left, are shown to the media at the General Direction of the police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, . Moise was assassinated in an attack on his private residence early Wednesday President Killed, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti - 08 Jul 2021

Solages called himself a child advocate, rising politician and “certified diplomatic agent” in a biography on a website for a south Florida charity he founded in 2019. It also lists him as a former bodyguard for the Canadian Embassy in Haiti.

Canada’s foreign relation department confirmed Friday that Solages was “briefly employed as a reserve bodyguard” through a private contractor.

General Jorge Luis Vargas Valencia, head of the Colombian national police, said President Iván Duque has ordered the country’s army and police to cooperate with the international investigation into the assassination.

Jovenel Moïse.John Moore/Getty

President Haiti Jovenel Moise

Interim Prime MinisterClaude Josephsaid an “unidentified group of individuals, some of whom were speaking in Spanish” began their attack on Moïse’s private residence around 1 a.m. on Wednesday.

Moïse was fatally wounded during the siege. He was 53.

First Lady Martine Moïse, who wed Jovenel in 1996, sustained gunshot wounds to her arms and thigh amid the confrontation. She was transported tothe Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospitalin Miami, Florida for treatment.

Joseph called the incident a “hateful, inhumane and barbaric act” in an interview with the Associated Press.

Martine and Jovenel Moïse.Bahare Khodabande/Anadolu Agency/Getty

President of Haiti Jovenel Moise and his wife

Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Bocchit Edmond, told CNN Thursday he had “no doubt” that if foreigners participated in the attack, they received help from within the country. He did not speculate on a motive, but noted, “it’s certain that the head of state cannot be killed just for play.”

“The most important thing is we need to continue with the investigations and look and identify those who financed them, those who paid them to commit this horrible act,” Edmond told CNN.

source: people.com