Unarmed Haitian Security Guards Killed in Turks and Caicos

Nearly every Haitian on the island knows a fellow countryman who has been murdered while working as a security guard, in a context where many of them do not even have access to firearms while on duty

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During a conversation the day before his murder in late July last year in Providenciales, the wife of Jacius Jacquelin Rosilma repeated a concern she had already expressed several times: he should consider leaving the security guard job he had held at a nightclub for four months.

For his wife, being a security guard in the Turks and Caicos Islands was far too “dangerous” because of the growing exposure to armed violence and crime.

The couple, together since 2018, reached a decision that night: the following day, July 27, would be Rosilma’s last day of work as a guard.

Rosilma never returned home from work that day.

Jacius Rosilma before the shooting on July 27, 2025, in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Courtesy: Phara Michelle.

His wife’s fears became reality: a family friend informed her that several armed and masked men had fired more than half a dozen bullets into Rosilma’s body during yet another armed confrontation resembling a settling of scores between rival gangs.

The local hospital sent Rosilma home without adequate care because he did not have health insurance on the island. His family transferred him to Haiti, where he died a few days later at Justinien Hospital in Cap-Haïtien.

There are no official statistics, but almost every Haitian resident on the island of fewer than 50,000 inhabitants seems to know a compatriot who has been killed in this extremely dangerous profession.

According to Guyvenson Laine — a Haitian national living in the Turks and Caicos Islands — since his arrival on the archipelago in 2021, “more than half a dozen Haitians working in the security sector have been killed in crossfire during clashes between rival factions.”

Guyvenson Laine working as a security guard in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Courtesy: Guyvenson Laine.

Gradually, gangs have taken root and fueled a surge in crime through what authorities describe as “gang-style” killings.

Contacted by AyiboPost, Phara Michelle, Rosilma’s partner, was categorical: “I kept urging him to leave that security guard job because far too many Haitians have lost their lives doing it on the island over the past five years.”

Strict restrictions on legal firearm possession leave security guards highly vulnerable.

According to Michelle, her husband was only allowed to use a metal detector to manage his work space as a security guard. “They gave him neither weapons nor handcuffs,” she complained to AyiboPost.

This is a common situation.

In testimonies collected by AyiboPost, four Haitian residents on the islands lament the country’s restrictive policies regarding firearms for private security professionals — a profession they say is largely occupied by Haitians, although reliable data on the matter is lacking.

The island prohibits the use of firearms without a valid permit that is extremely difficult to obtain — with exemptions granted only to professional gunsmiths.

Mandatory minimum sentences for offenses related to firearm possession — including ammunition — are heavier than for crimes such as homicide and the importation of weapons, weapon parts, or ammunition. Possessing airsoft pistols or toy guns is illegal and can lead to a minimum sentence of twelve years in prison.

The rigidity of firearm policies rebounds on Haitian private security professionals, who often find themselves deprived of adequate means of deterrence to effectively manage the spaces they are supposed to protect, according to testimonies collected by AyiboPost.

Last June, Spence Security & Investigation Services Ltd — a security company on the archipelago — appealed to Turks and Caicos authorities for greater autonomy and better protection for private security personnel after one of their employees was brutally murdered while on duty.

The agency called for stronger safety measures and better resources for guards who are often targeted while protecting businesses and communities.

Guyvenson Laine, mentioned above, in his twenties, has worked as a security guard at a club in Providenciales for three years.

Guyvenson Laine, a security guard in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Courtesy: Guyvenson Laine.

He described to AyiboPost the deplorable conditions in which he works.

“The state gives me access to nothing — neither weapons nor handcuffs,” he said. “My uniform is the only symbol of my profession.”

According to Laine, this situation disadvantages his Haitian colleagues, who often become collateral victims during episodes of armed clashes amid a context marked by a surge in what he describes as “barbaric” killings.

The shadow of armed violence has also taken a psychological toll on him.

“Sometimes I feel twisted with anxiety when I have to search people entering the club, some of whom may be armed,” Laine said.

Although he has so far been spared from violence, he knows other Haitian security guards who have been killed.

During a robbery on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, around 5:29 p.m. at the GK Blue Store in Blue Hills — a neighborhood of Providenciales — armed individuals killed a Haitian security guard, who succumbed to his injuries while emergency services watched helplessly.

The Haitian security guard murdered in front of the GK Blue Store in Blue Hills in 2025. Courtesy: Guyvenson Laine.

According to local media, the incident sent shockwaves through the Blue Hills community and across the Turks and Caicos Islands, raising renewed concerns about violent crime and the vulnerabilities faced by those tasked with ensuring public safety.

According to Laine, the victim was well known in Providenciales and left behind a child about ten years old.

The reasons explaining the large presence of Haitians in the security sector despite the risks often relate to a lack of opportunities, sometimes linked to their immigration status on the archipelago.

“Haitians know the dangers, but they have no other choice because of their migration situation on the islands,” Laine told AyiboPost.

Located north of Haiti, the Turks and Caicos Islands — a British overseas territory — are known for their sunny beaches and luxury resorts attracting more than 1.5 million tourists each year, about 80 percent of them from the United States.

A photo of the GK Blue Store in Providenciales, March 6, 2026. Courtesy: Guyvenson Laine.

This archipelago of 49 islands attracts wealthy celebrities on vacation as well as Haitians seeking to escape life in Haiti due to insecurity and limited economic opportunities. Estimates suggest that about 10,000 Haitians live there — roughly one third of the local population.

According to statistics from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, only 20 percent of Haitians living in Providenciales hold permanent residency permits.

In recent years, the archipelago has become the scene of escalating violence attributed to the arrival of organized criminal gangs from other parts of the Caribbean, which engage in clashes fueled by revenge, territorial disputes, reprisals, and the desire to dominate the local drug market.

In the second half of 2022 alone, 21 homicides were recorded within two months.

These killings forced Turks and Caicos authorities to seek urgent support from the British government, which dispatched a vessel and deployed 24 armed officers from neighboring Bahamas to assist with surveillance and security operations.

Authorities also took the opportunity to strengthen legislation related to illegal firearm possession.

However, despite the tightening of these measures, homicides have not stopped.

On July 27, 2025, a shooting at a nightclub in Providenciales — described by authorities as the “first mass shooting” in the Turks and Caicos Islands — left three people dead and about ten injured, including Haitians.

AyiboPost was unable to reach the Haitian consulate in the Turks and Caicos Islands before the publication of this report.

By: Junior Legrand