An armed attack by the Savien gang left eight people dead and three injured in Kafou Robert, a locality in the fourth section of Saint-Marc, on the morning of Saturday, May 9, 2026. According to Wilbert Michel, President of the Communal Section Administrative Council (CASEC), the tragedy occurred around 5:00 a.m. Six gunmen from Liancourt targeted motorcyclists on a secondary road linking Verrettes and Désarmes to Saint-Marc—a route now frequently used because National Road No. 1 has been abandoned to armed gangs.
A total of 11 people were hit by gunfire. Most of the victims were from Verrettes, including Joseph Casséus, a fourth-year civil engineering student at Nissage Saget University (UNISSA) who was traveling to Saint-Marc for his classes. Sources report that the attackers interrogated the victims, accusing them of fighting against criminals before opening fire. In addition to the killings, the gang members stole five motorcycles and set three others on fire. This area had already been suffering from a recent wave of livestock theft.
By Saturday evening, police forces from Saint-Marc had yet to arrive at the scene, despite reassurances of an urgent intervention from Chief Commissioner Livenson Gauthier. Michel, who has served as CASEC president for over a decade across different terms, lamented that the central government has consistently ignored this strategic geographical intersection. “In terms of security, it is volunteers who have been sacrificing themselves for years,” he stated. This latest attack by the “Grand Grif” gang has sparked widespread anger on social media and intensified the debate over the chronic insecurity plaguing the Lower Artibonite region.
