Local man killed during home invasion in Haiti

MIRAMAR, Fla. (WSVN) -- A family is grieving after their loved-one was shot and killed in Haiti.

Viola Semexant Zucker said her and her son, Ronald Chery, along with other family members went to Haiti to try to stop the government from taking over family land. While at a relative's home, Viola said, gunmen stormed in and asked for 16-year-old Nadege Charlot and kidnapped her. When Ronald tried to stop them he was shot in the head.

Viola is now back in South Florida and struggling to accept the fact the her son, who was a Department of Homeland Security officer, was shot to death in Haiti on Friday. "I am still shaking so much. I can't sleep."

Viola said she is praying for the men who killed her son and she is pleading with them to let her cousin, Nadege, live. "I will tell them I will pray for them, to make them have a conscience to see what they're doing is no good."

"We've all been bleeding for Haiti after the earthquake," Ula Zucker, Ronald's sister, said. "It makes you wonder where is that pride? That Haitian pride, you know, you have to wonder, and will you ever go back to Haiti again?"

The family is working with the U.S. State Department to get the 16-year-old girl released. Nadage's ransom was initially $500,000, it has since been reduced to $60,000. The family is also trying to bring Ronald's body back to South Florida.

(Copyright 2010 by Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)