By: Alyssa Wilson

Authorities in Haiti have arrested more people in connection to the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.  

Taiwan’s Embassy was raided after several suspects were believed to have sought refuge there. Two Haitian-Americans and several former Colombian soldiers were also arrested in connection, the Associated Press reported.  

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The new arrests bring the total number of suspects to 17, according to National Police Chief Léon Charles. “We are going to bring them to justice,” he said Thursday.  

Colombia’s government has offered full cooperation and revealed that some of the suspects detained are retired members of the country’s army. General Jorge Luis Vargas of Colombia’s police said, “A team was formed with the best investigators. They are going to send dates, flight times, financial information that is already being collecting to be sent to Port-au-Prince.”  

The U.S. State Department said it is aware two Americans are in custody, but offered no comment. One of the men was identified as 35-year-old James Solages. He is a former bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti.  

President Moïse was shot and killed in his home Wednesday morning. Judge Carl Henry Destin is involved in the investigation into the assassination, and he said Moïse was shot about a dozen times while his office and bedroom were ransacked. A maid and another worker were tied up by the attackers while the president’s daughter hid in her brother’s room. Moïse’s wife, first lady Martine Moïse, was airlifted to a hospital in South Florida to receive treatment for her gunshot wounds. 

Since the assassination, Haiti has faced turmoil as violent gangs continue to run people out of their homes as they fight over territory. One man said citizens are “sleeping with one eye open and one eye closed” because they do not have any protection.