SOURCE: REUTERS – Gunmen kidnapped a Haitian pastor and three others during a ceremony that was streamed live on Facebook, media reported on Friday, with the footage widely shared on social media in a country plagued by soaring violence.
In the video, two choir members can be seen singing a hymn before they suddenly drop their mics and cower by the side of the altar. As piano music continues to play, a man wielding a rifle enters the screen and is seen taking them away.
The incident streamed on Facebook and YouTube on Thursday evening, took place at the Seventh-day Adventist Gospel Kreyol Ministry Church in Diquini on the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince, according to the Miami Herald newspaper.
Gregory M. Figaro, whose father, Greger Figaro, is the founder of the ministry, told the Miami Herald that eight to 10 gunmen arrived in two vehicles and kidnapped the pastor and three others, including a pianist.
“If this can happen, then anything is possible in the country because there is no respect for any institution, whether it’s a church or school,” Figaro said, according to the Miami Herald.
Haiti has been rocked by rising violence in recent years, especially by runaway kidnapping-for-ransom incidents which have paralyzed the economy and Haitian society.
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When it is not military coups d’etats it is this kind of violence which is a yearly occurrence in Haiti , this is why I have questioned the wisdom of bringing Haiti into the Caricom set up . The political leader of the 1960’s have made serious mistakes in judgement which are now haunting the the current generations. Eg. the dissolution of the the west indies federation and now we have 10 or 11 small island governments having to go around the world begging for vaccines.
All the people in the world are crazy. Their actions have been a telltale sign of their mental state for a while. Mix their craziness with the pandemic which is taking hold of some people mindset; a dangerous combination.
Nonetheless, I pray the preacher and the other church members are okay. We are living in an uncertain world today. And every day our heads are about the ground we should all thank our Heavenly Father. I tell everyone we old people have seen the best of what the world had to offer. I feel sorry for the young people today; because I don’t see anything good coming their way. Too much evilness is in the world.
I would like to say God, Jesus, and Christ is bigger and more powerful; but actually I am beginning to doubt that these day. Evilness is all over just as goodness; but the goodness is ‘getting over shadowed in the mist.