Gunmen Storm A Church Sheltering Families

Gang fighters killed at least 47 people and dragged more than 50 others away during a night raid on a Haitian church sheltering displaced families.

Story Snapshot

Roughly 150 armed gang members attacked Kenscoff, a farming town near Port-au-Prince, on the night of August 23.
The United Nations says 22 people were executed inside a church compound where they had gone for safety.
Haiti’s National Police ordered an investigation into whether “complicity or negligence” allowed the attack to happen.
The raid fits a wider pattern of gangs pushing into once-safe areas as Haiti’s displacement crisis hits record levels.

Gunmen Storm A Church Sheltering Families

Armed men swept into Kenscoff, a farming community outside Haiti’s capital, on the night of August 23. United Nations human rights spokesperson Marta Hurtado said about 150 heavily armed gang members carried out the attack. They first killed 13 people who tried to run, then chased another 50 who had hidden inside a church compound.

United Nations spokesman Stéphane Dujarric called it a massacre, saying the attack killed at least 47 people overnight, including 22 who were executed inside the church where they had sought safety. Local officials in Kenscoff confirmed deaths through a justice of the peace and the chief prosecutor, and Mayor Massillon Jean said 15 people remained missing days after the assault.

Death Toll And Kidnappings Confirmed By The UN

Early counts from Haitian authorities put the death toll at 25, but the United Nations later confirmed at least 47 killed and more than 50 kidnapped. Amnesty International backed those numbers, reporting 47 dead and 22 injured, with dozens more abducted after seeking shelter in the church. The gap between early and later counts reflects how fast-moving violence in Haiti often outpaces official reporting.

The attack struck a displaced-persons camp housed inside the church, according to Agence France-Presse. Witnesses described bandits executing several people, wounding dozens more, and abducting others as they fled. Haiti’s Prime Minister’s office issued condolences following the raid.

Police Order Investigation Into Possible Failures

Haiti’s National Police announced an investigation to determine whether the attack succeeded because of “complicity or negligence” among local security forces. The announcement came as residents demanded answers about why armed men could gather in such numbers and strike a sheltering community without early warning or a faster police response.

Part Of A Wider Pattern Of Gang Expansion

The Kenscoff attack fits a broader shift in Haiti, where gangs have moved beyond Port-au-Prince into farming towns and rural areas once considered safer. United Nations officials have called the resulting displacement “unprecedented,” with about 1.4 million Haitians forced from their homes as of early 2026 amid killings, kidnappings, and extortion across the country.

Between April and June alone, United Nations monitors recorded 1,408 people killed and 656 injured in Haiti, a modest drop from the first months of the year but still evidence of relentless violence. Gangs have used mass killings and abductions to seize territory, turning displacement camps and churches into targets rather than refuges for Haitian families fleeing earlier attacks.

Pope Leo XIV today said that he is praying for the people of Haiti after dozens were killed in an attack on a church in Kenscoff, with many also kidnapped:

'Tragic reports are emerging from Haiti of the horrific massacre carried out in Kenscoff, in which numerous people have… pic.twitter.com/BGypEIcQGl

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) August 30, 2026

Hundreds of mourners gathered to bury victims of the Kenscoff attack, with grieving families demanding stronger protection from a police force stretched thin across a country where gangs increasingly outgun state security. The scale of the raid, and the choice of a church sheltering displaced people as its target, has intensified calls for international and domestic action against Haiti’s expanding gang coalitions.