Two reporters and a police officer were killed after gunmen opened fire on journalists.

The attack took place during the opening of Haiti’s largest public hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, officials in the violence-torn country stated.

According to the BBC, the Haitian government had recaptured the site in July after being occupied and destroyed by gangs.

The government had rebuilt the hospital and was there to commission it when the attack occurred.

Journalists were at the site waiting for the arrival of Health Minister Lorthe Blema when armed men began opening fire on them. Pictures posted online appear to show several people injured or dead inside the building.

“It felt like a terrible movie,” Dieugo André, a photojournalist who witnessed the violence, told The Haitian Times. “I have the blood of several injured journalists on my clothes.”

Robest Dimanche, the spokesman for the Online Media Collective, confirmed to AFP news agency that Markenzy Nathoux and Jimmy Jean were the two journalists who were killed in the attack. 

Meanwhile, the Viv Ansanm gang alliance, who had occupied the hospital since March before the government recaptured it in July, posted a video online claiming responsibility for the attack.

The gang said it had not authorised the reopening of the hospital.

Reacting to the incident, the head of Haiti’s presidential transitional council, Leslie Voltaire, said, “We express our sympathy to all the victims’ families, in particular to the Haiti National Police and all the journalists’ associations. We guarantee them that this act will not remain without consequences.”

According to the United Nations, an estimated 5,000 people have been killed in the Haiti violence this year alone, with the country now on the verge of collapse as gangs occupy a major part of the country.