Haiti police shoot two food-theft suspects: CNN
By DPA, IANSFriday, January 22, 2010
Washington/Port-au-PRINCE - Haitian police shot two men who were carrying five bags of rice Friday, killing one of them, CNN reported.
CNN had cameras on the scene as or right after the altercation occurred, showing one man dying and another seriously wounded by shots in the back.
Police told CNN that the two men had stolen the five bags of rice. The surviving suspect said variously that the rice had been a gift from the driver and that the bags had fallen from the truck.
Bystanders and shopkeepers said the men were not thieves.
Police did not answer CNN’s question as to whether they had been given orders to shoot to kill if looting is suspected in the earthquake-ravaged, hungry city of 2 million.
Haitian police and government figures have been notably absent from the chaos and tragedy of the devastated capital, provoking anger among the traumatized population even as international aid givers rush to deliver food, water and medical care.
