All articles tagged with #gang violence
A violent gang attack in Kenscoff, Haiti, left at least 47 dead and more than 50 kidnapped. The UN says some victims were killed in a church and children were among the dead. The violence exacerbates mass displacement (about 1.5 million affected) and tests security forces ahead of elections as authorities battle to curb organized crime.
Overnight, armed gangs swept through Kenscoff overlooking Port-au-Prince, killing at least 47 and wounding more than 22, the UN said; the hillside enclave has faced repeated attacks as gangs widen their grip, prompting anger at authorities and calls for accountability as UN-backed security forces push to bolster protection.
Three decades after Tupac Shakur’s death, Duane Keffe D Davis, former leader of the South Side Crips, goes on trial in Las Vegas for allegedly orchestrating the rapper’s 1996 killing by supplying the gun, though he didn’t fire it. The case hinges on Davis’s own memoir Compton Street Legend and related interviews, which prosecutors say corroborate a planned retaliation after a nightclub fight involving Davis’s nephew. The four-to-six-week trial is expected to feature 35–45 witnesses and may involve testimony from people connected to Tupac and Davis, with Knight potentially appearing as a witness despite serving a separate prison sentence. The gun and car used in the drive-by were never recovered, and Davis has been jailed since 2023 awaiting the case’s outcome.
A deadly gang-related shooting at Seattle Center involving ghost guns prompts renewed scrutiny of the Seattle Police Department’s ability to investigate gun violence without a dedicated gang unit and to execute its gun-violence reduction strategy.
An Ecuadorian gang leader linked to Los Águilas was shot dead outside Guayaquil's arrivals terminal in a bouquet-and teddy bear ambush; two teenagers were detained as Ecuador faces a spike in gang violence amid a new state of emergency across ten provinces.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Haiti amid escalating gang violence, meeting interim authorities and residents in a makeshift shelter and urging international support to restore security and hold elections.
A 17-year-old was beaten and left in a coma outside Madison Square Garden after the Knicks’ Game 4 win; police say the assault, tied to a gang-attack, stemmed from a verbal dispute sparked by a provocative content creator, and the teen, initially in critical condition, has since stabilized while investigators seek the suspect.
Twenty-six leaders, members and associates of the Trinitarios in Massachusetts were charged in a federal racketeering conspiracy and drug trafficking case linked to five murders and 19 attempted murders, part of a multi-year, cross-state crackdown involving the Lawrence, Lynn, Haverhill and Boston chapters; the indictment details the gang’s structure, recruitment of youths, extensive drug trafficking, extortion and other violent crimes, with several defendants already charged or convicted in related cases and ongoing federal prosecutions.
In Port-au-Prince’s Cité Soleil, residents protested for police protection after weekend gang clashes drove hundreds from their homes, with reports of killings and arson as hospitals evacuated and the U.N.-backed force works to quell the violence.
Armed gang clashes in Port-au-Prince force hundreds to flee their homes, scattering families along the road to Toussaint Louverture airport as authorities and aid groups scramble to respond.
Dozens are killed and thousands forced to flee as armed gangs rampage through Haiti’s Artibonite region ahead of a multinational force deployment, with UN alarm and widespread destruction threatening the country’s breadbasket and food supplies.
Haiti is entering a dangerous political vacuum as the US-backed transitional presidential council’s term expires without a president or Parliament, while gangs have surged and displaced thousands, complicating planned elections; international security forces and private contractors are trying to stabilize the country, but governance remains deeply fractured.
Seven officers from Guatemala's National Civil Police were killed in attacks blamed on gangs in retaliation for the government's refusal to transfer gang leaders to lower-security prisons after inmates held hostages in three facilities; authorities retook one prison as gangs, including Barrio 18 and MS-13, press for concessions amid ongoing violence.
Five severed heads were hung on posts at Puerto López beach in Ecuador with a message threatening extortion by gangs, illustrating a spike in violence tied to drug-cartel activity; authorities note a record homicide rate in 2025 and ongoing government efforts, as gangs operate across Colombia and Peru transit routes.
Rapper Kay Flock, real name Kevin Perez, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his involvement in multiple shootings linked to gang violence in the Bronx, which derailed his rising music career. The judge criticized him for glorifying violence and not showing remorse, despite his claims of personal growth.