A photographer working for the Associated Press was injured on Monday after being shot by a Haitian senator during a confirmation ceremony for the country’s new prime minister.

Chery Dieu-Nalio sustained a face injury caused by bullet fragments when Haitian Senator Jean Marie Ralph Féthière drew a gun, threatened to open fire and then shot several rounds while trying to emerge from a crowd around the country’s parliament building.

“I was attacked by groups of violent militants,” Féthière later told reporters. “They tried to get me out of my vehicle. And so I defended myself. Self-defense is a sacred right…it was proportional: Equal force, equal response.”

Féthière told Radio Mega he was unaware reporters were at the scene, though photos show Dieu-Nalio and others were wearing gear at the time that clearly identified them as members of the media.

Dieu-Nalio’s injuries were non-life threatening. A second man, identified as a driver, was also injured in the incident.