‘We are all devastated’: US missionary couple killed in Haiti
A young married couple from the United States who were serving as missionaries in Haiti have been murdered by a Haitian gang, according to a report by an Oklahoma-based ministry.
Missions in Haiti, Inc. posted to Facebook around 1:20 a.m. Friday that 23-year-old David Lloyd III and his wife, Natalie, who is the 21-year-old daughter of Missouri state Rep. Ben Baker, were killed along with the mission group’s country director, who was simply identified as “Jude.”
“Davy and Natalie and Jude were shot and killed by the gang about 9 o'clock this evening. We all are devastated,” the mission group wrote, with the post receiving over 470 comments and more than 580 shares in less than 24 hours.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
In an earlier post on Thursday night, the group explained that “when Davy, Natalie and the kids were coming out of” a church event “they were ambushed by a gang of 3 trucks full of guys.”
“Davy was taken to the house tied up and beat. The gang then took our trucks and loaded everything up they wanted and left. Another gang came after to see what was going on and if they could help, so they say,” explained the Missions in Haiti post.
“No one understood what they were doing, not sure what took place but one was shot and killed and now this gang went into full attack mode.”
According to the earlier post, the Lloyds and Jude sought safety at a nearby house as gang members continued to open fire after having “shot all the windows out of the house.”
“Their lives are in danger. I have been trying all my contacts to get a police armored car there to evacuate them out to safety but can't get anyone to do,” continued the post.
Alicia Lloyd, who founded Missions in Haiti in 2000 alongside her husband, David Lloyd, confirmed the deaths of the young couple to NBC News on Friday, adding that her son had called her during the attack.
Haiti has been experiencing rampant gang rule since July 2021, when President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated while pursuing an effort to rewrite the Caribbean nation’s constitution.
Earlier the year, the situation in Haiti had become so violent that several U.S. missionaries and other American citizens made efforts to flee the country, with many others being stranded.
“Structural and conjectural factors have led Haiti to a cataclysmic situation, characterized by deep political instability and extremely fragile institutions,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a report released in March.
“Corruption, impunity, and poor governance, compounded by increasing levels of gang violence, have eroded the rule of law, and brought State institutions, which should be the basis of a democratic society, close to collapse. The impact of generalized insecurity on the population is dire and keeps on deteriorating.”
