Wyclef Jean says he was only slightly injured after a bullet grazed his hand as he stepped out of car to make a phone call in Haiti.
The Haitian-American musician, who was in Port-au-Prince to support fellow musician and Haiti presidential candidate Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly, was shot Saturday night on the eve of the country’s presidential elections.
“The way I can explain it is that the bullet grazed me in my right hand,” Jean told the Associated Press in a telephone interview. “I heard blow, blow, blow, and I just looked at my hand.”
Jean was with a driver and Haitian hip-hop singer FanFan at the time and got out of the car to make a call that FanFan would not overhear.
When he heard the shots, he looked down and saw blood on his shirt and shoes. He said he doesn’t know who fired the shots or whether they were directed at him.
Jean added that he was treated at a local hospital and released and was taking antibiotics. He still planned to vote in Sunday’s presidential election.
Jean, a Haiti native, runs Yele Haiti, a foundation focused on providing aid and relief to the nation still recovering from a devastating January 2010 earthquake. He briefly pursued a bid to be president of Haiti in September, but was ruled ineligible by election officials.
