Jean Massillon, mayor of Kenscoff, Haiti, carried a 9-millimeter handgun and warned police and government officials that gangs would attack. Nobody listened. The longtime administrator refused to leave after other residents fled in August, becoming the public face of resistance to illegal armed groups.
Massillon fell ill on Oct. 9 while walking up a mountain to reach an area police had recently cleared. Ambulance services had abandoned Kenscoff a year earlier because of gang violence. After six years as interim mayor of the roughly 50,000-person town, he died at 53. His brother, Christophe, said Haiti was experiencing a total decline in health care and security.
Kenscoff, once a peaceful mountain farming village, became strategically important because it borders Petion-Ville, where diplomats and wealthy residents live. The first attack in January 2025 killed 139 people. Massillon then sent at least 200 letters seeking help.
Between July 4 and 9, gangs killed 61 people, according to a United Nations panel; Massillon put the death toll at 105. Coordinated attacks on Aug. 23 and 24 killed 47 people. More than 22,000 people have died in Haitian gang violence since 2021.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing