On Thursday morning, a Haitian was accidentally killed by a bullet in the head by a Dominican army patrol chasing a van carrying illegal Haitians to Santiago. The victim was identified as Cariño, 22, who lived in Cap-Haitien.
The patrol report specifies that a blue Ford van, file F150 registered L395475 coming from Dajabón, which illegally transported 18 Haitians refused to be checked at the military checkpoint in Amina, Mao and fled.
The soldiers then chased the van in the community of Capilla, in the municipality of Navarrete (Province of Santiago) and shot the tires in order to immobilize the van. It was during these shots that a bullet fatally hit one of the Haitian passengers.
The driver of the van, unable to continue his journey, abandoned his vehicle before fleeing and is actively sought.
Many Haitians in an irregular migration situation were arrested by the military while a few managed to flee. According to the testimonies of Haitians collected by the soldiers, they came from Cap-Haitien and other neighboring cities and paid the driver of the van between 4,000 and 4,500 pesos each, to make the trip from Dajabón to Santiago.
