Haiti Development Leader In Boston Reacts To Assassination Of Haitian President

Haitians in the Boston area are stunned after the assassination of the country's president, Jovenel Moise and the shooting of his wife in their residence overnight.

Massachusetts has the third-largest Haitian community in the U.S. — about 86,000 people, most of them in Greater Boston.

The Haiti Development Institute is an initiative of the Boston Foundation that helps build grassroots organizations in Haiti, with the goal of creating a strong civil society. Its executive director, Pierre Noel, told WBUR's All Things Considered host Lisa Mullins that, despite the growing political instability and violence in Haiti over the last several months, he didn't foresee the attack on the president — or what it might do to his organization's efforts.