Chilling video has emerged showing the moment a Haitian senator trying to disperse protesters fires a pistol and wounds two people, including a photojournalist, outside parliament.
Sen. Jean Marie Ralph Féthière opened fire while facing unruly protesters on the second day of failed attempts by the government to confirm the nomination of Fritz William Michel as the new prime minister.
Féthière allegedly had his gun drawn outside the Port-au-Prince building and warned the throng that he would shoot if they didn’t let him leave, according to Sen. Patrice Dumont.
People run as Haiti’s Sen. Jean Marie Ralph Fethiere fires a gun in the air.REUTERSSeveral protesters are seen yanking open the passenger door of a white vehicle while gesturing and yelling at the lawmaker, the footage shows.
Féthière then pulls out the handgun and fires off several shots, sending a group of people around the vehicle fleeing in all directions before he gets back in the vehicle, which speeds out of the parking lot.
The gunfire struck Associated Press photographer Chery Dieu-Nalio in the jaw as he stood next to a white vehicle. He was expected to survive.
Leon Leblanc, a security guard and driver, also suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Féthière, a member of Haiti’s ruling party, said he acted in self-defense after opposition protesters burst into the parliament building.
“I defended myself. Legitimate defense is a sacred right,” he told local media, adding that he was unaware that a journalist had been injured.
