Under Fire in Haiti: Veteran AP Cameraman's Harrowing Account of Gang Attack
Veteran Associated Press videographer Pierre-Richard Luxama was documenting a tactical police unit patrolling Haiti's capital on Monday when the gang members who control almost the entire city launched a sudden and violent attack.
Molotov Cocktails and Armoured Vehicle Inferno
The assailants set the roof of the armoured police vehicle ablaze with Molotov cocktails, filling the interior with thick, acrid smoke. Officers immediately returned fire, forcing the gang members to retreat. The vehicle then sped back to base, where both civilians and police officers rushed to douse the flames with water.
"We took off around 10:30 a.m. and two hours into the patrol, we were attacked with Molotov cocktails along the capital's main thoroughfare," Luxama recalled. "Everyone was calm, but smoke was coming inside. Police told us to breathe very slowly. Inside the armoured car, the smoke was really heavy and was spreading everywhere quickly."
Decades Documenting Haiti's Descent into Chaos
For nearly two decades, Luxama and his colleague Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, have been covering Haiti's tragic disintegration into ever-deepening chaos. The current crisis has left at least 5.7 million Haitians at emergency levels, with 1.9 million facing severe hunger. Journalists in Haiti now operate under unprecedented threat, dodging bullets as they document the capital's downfall.
Luxama described the chilling moment during the attack: "One officer sitting in front said, 'We have been attacked by a Molotov cocktail, so let's move. Let's move because we don't want the armoured car to break down.'" This fear is grounded in grim reality—during gang attacks last year, police officers were pulled from broken-down armoured vehicles and killed, with horrific videos of the murders circulating widely on social media.
Seven Minutes of Terror and Calm Under Pressure
"It took us about seven or ten minutes to get back to the police base," Luxama explained. "I was very still. I was trying not to breathe so fast because I didn't want the burning smoke to get inside my body. I really stayed calm."
Upon reaching the base, panic briefly erupted. "When the armoured vehicle came to the base, there was a little bit of panic. Everybody was running around us. They were panicked when they saw the roof on fire. We opened the door, and when we got out, a group of civilians and police officers started coming toward us to throw water on the roof."
Reflecting on the experience, Luxama shared his survival philosophy: "It was scary. But with my experience, I've learned not to worry. When I'm in a difficult situation, the first thing I should do is stay calm. When you stay calm, you think about what the next situation will be, and what you should do. If you panic, it's not going to be good for you."
Haunting Images of a Capital in Collapse
The day after the attack, Luxama recounted the series of images from the patrol that may never leave him. "It was a sunny day. When you first start going into some of the areas, you don't see anybody on the street. The street is completely empty, without tap-taps, without passengers, without motorcycles. You only hear the birds singing."
He described streets overflowing with trash and buildings demolished, stripped of doors and windows. "The gang is really feared. You can feel this," he observed. Among the most disturbing sights was "a person's severed arm and leg tied to an electrical wire hanging in front of an abandoned store that was already looted."
Luxama also noted two small Haitian flags placed atop a gang barricade on one street, with twisted metal, an old oven, and a refrigerator forming part of the makeshift fortification. The powerful gang federation Viv Ansanm controls this area. In a surreal moment amidst the danger, he remembered "a policewoman taking a selfie inside the armoured vehicle while we were under attack."
Displacement Crisis Amid Failed Security Efforts
Gang violence has displaced 1.4 million people in recent years despite efforts by the Haitian police and a UN-backed police mission, with another international intervention promised but yet to materialise. In downtown Port-au-Prince, Luxama remembered the eerie silence: "You only hear the birds singing."
The veteran journalist's account provides a stark, firsthand perspective on the daily reality facing both residents and those documenting Haiti's profound crisis, where tactical police patrols have become dangerous missions through urban landscapes controlled by armed gangs.
