At least three people died when armed men in Haiti opened fire at journalists, police, and medical staff during a hospital reopening briefing.

Two journalists and a police officer were reportedly shot dead, with others wounded in Tuesday’s attack at the general hospital in Port-au-Prince.

Haiti’s government had recaptured the site in July after gangs occupied and destroyed it.

The Viv Ansanm gang alliance, which controls much of the city, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Pictures online show several injured or dead inside the building.

Journalists were waiting for Health Minister Lorthe Blema when the shooting started.

Journalists Markenzy Nathoux and Jimmy Jean were killed, while others were wounded, according to Robest Dimanche, spokesman for the Online Media Collective.

An officer was also killed, police spokesman Lionel Lazarre told AFP.

“It felt like a terrible movie,” said photojournalist Dieugo André, who witnessed the violence.

“I have the blood of several injured journalists on my clothes.”

In an online video, the Viv Ansanm gang stated they had not authorized the hospital’s reopening, which they occupied and destroyed in March.

Leslie Voltaire, head of Haiti’s presidential transitional council, expressed sympathy for the victims’ families and guaranteed consequences for the act.

Haiti continues to suffer from severe gang violence despite a new transition government in April and an international force led by Kenyan police officers deployed six months ago.

Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, Haiti has been engulfed in gang violence, with an estimated 85% of Port-au-Prince under gang control.

The UN reports that 5,000 people have been killed in Haiti this year alone, pushing the country to the brink of collapse.