A group of Manitoba francophone students cut short their trip to the Dominican Republic after seeing a man shot during a break-in at the compound where they were staying in the Municipal District of Cabarete near the resort town Puerto Plata.
The Grade 10, 11 and 12 students from École régionale Saint-Jean-Baptiste and École Pointe-des-Chênes were on a week-long humanitarian trip to help an orphanage in Puerto Plata.
Early Friday morning, thieves broke into the compound where they slept and shot the owner, who is now in critical condition.
A spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Canada confirmed a Canadian was injured in the Dominican Republic but would not confirm any details, citing privacy concerns.
Local media in the Dominican Republic has identified the man as 64-year-old Canadian Les Lehmann.
According to local media reports, Lehmann was attempting to fend off the two robbers when they shot him nine times.
"Not the whole group saw what happened, but they kind of witnessed it through noise and sound, so they didn't leave their room, but unfortunately four or five of our students were in the room when this happened," said Alain Laberge, superintendent of the Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine.
According to Laberge, the 18 students, along with 8 teachers and parent chaperones, flew to New York Friday and returned to Winnipeg early Saturday morning where they were met by parents and school officials at the airport.
Laberge said it was an emotional reunion.
“Tears, happiness, it was a mix of both,” he said, “You see your parents, you are happy to see them but at the same time, you go through what happened the days before, you probably think, this nightmare is over…and you just want to hug your parents.”
The division will offer grief counsellors and psychologists to the students, parents and teachers that were affected.
Canadian consular officials in the Dominican Republic are working with local authorities to gather more information and provide consular assistance, said the spokesperson in an email.
