US missionaries killed in Haiti, ambushed by gangs
Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Kenyan police officers are leading a Multinational Security Support mission to Haiti as gangs have taken over 80% of the city and killed three US missiona
A married couple working full-time for an Oklahoma-based mission group in Haiti were shot and killed by Haitian gangs Thursday, along with the organization’s Haiti director, police and the religious group said.
Davy and Natalie Lloyd died Thursday evening in Lizon in northern Port-au-Prince, the Associated Press reports. They were full-time missionaries for Claremore, Oklahoma-based Missions in Haiti Inc., an organization founded by Davy Lloyd’s parents.
The organization’s Haitian director, Jude Montis, 20, was the third victim killed in the attack.
Natalie Lloyd’s father is Missouri state Rep. Ben Baker.
"My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. I’ve never felt this kind of pain," Baker said in a Facebook post. "Please pray for my family we desperately need strength. And please pray for the Lloyd family as well. I have no other words for now."
Natalie Lloyd’s Facebook page said the couple married on June 18, 2022, and she began working with the missionary organization in August 2022. She frequently posted photos of Haitian children on her page.
David Lloyd, Davy’s father, told The Miami Herald that his son was trying to relay to his father what was going on when the three were killed and their bodies set on fire.
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The attack happened at Missions in Hope, which runs a school for 450 children, a children’s home and a commercial bakery, where David Lloyd said "we give bread to anyone who’s hungry."
"We haven’t had any problems," he told the news outlet. "We’ve operated school every day. We’ve had church on schedule. We got a commercial bakery that’s open every day. I’ve never had been asked for any money to operate or stay open. I’ve never had any issues."
The slayings occurred as the capital crumbles under the relentless assault of violent gangs that control 80% of Port-au-Prince while authorities await the arrival of a police force from Kenya as part of a U.N.-backed deployment aimed at quelling gang violence in the troubled Caribbean country.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.