PORT-AU-ANCE: A teenager was fatally shot Tuesday in Les Cayes, Haiti's third-largest city, as frustration rises over the slow pace of humanitarian aid efforts for Hurricane Matthew victims, the city's mayor said.
"A Puerto Rican ship was in the process of unloading its cargo in the port, but something went amiss at the dock and an adolescent was felled by bullets," Mayor Gabriel Fortune told AFP.
Almost a month after Hurricane Matthew slammed Haiti, devastating the poorest country in the Americas, distribution of humanitarian aid has been frustratingly slow, partly because of damaged roads and bridges.
The Caribbean country's southern coast suffered the greatest damage from the storm, which killed a total of 546 people and caused nearly $2 billion in damage across Haiti, according to official data.
In Les Cayes -- located in the south some 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the capital Port-au-Prince -- the mayor described a tense situation Tuesday after the shooting death.
"The angry population filled the streets and people came to my home," Fortune said.
"Together we headed downtown to the court, to report the incident to a judge, but we couldn't reach it because the streets were blocked," he added.
Reeling from the powerful storm that made landfall on October 4, Les Cayes still has barricades on the main streets blocking all traffic.
Fortune, who was not at the scene of the fatal shooting, could not identify who did it. "An investigation will determine who is responsible," he said.
Haitian Justice Minister Camille Edouard condemned the shooting and offered condolences to the family and loved ones of the slain teen.
"The Haitian National Police have already begun to look into it," the minister said.
He said a delegation was on its way to Les Cayes with the intent of "investigating, evaluating and adopting measures to restore order and reinforce security."
Just a week ago, gunfire killed a teenage girl and wounded three people when chaos broke out during humanitarian aid distribution in the southwestern port of Dame-Marie.
The UN's humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, Mourad Wahba, suggested the latest incident in Les Cayes could impede efforts to get the country back on its feet.
"The only security would be a better coordination and distribution of aid," he told AFP.