The families of an American missionary couple who were attacked and killed Thursday in Haiti alongside the local director of a Christian mission group are mourning and remembering the fallen.
Jude Montis, local director of Missions in Haiti Inc., and Davy and Natalie Lloyd, a young married couple from the United States, were fatally shot in the community of Lizon, north of Port-au-Prince, after leaving a youth group activity at church. . Natalie was the daughter of Missouri State Representative Ben Baker.
“On Thursday evening, May 23, our family experienced a tragedy that broke our hearts and left Naomi and I grieving so deeply that words cannot truly express it. My daughter and son-in-law Davy and Natalie Lloyd were murdered by gangs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti,” Baker said in a statement.
They were killed as Port-au-Prince collapses under relentless assaults by violent gangs who control 80% of the capital while authorities await the arrival of a police force from Kenya as part of a UN-backed deployment aimed at cracking down on gang violence in the country. the struggling Caribbean country.
AMERICAN MISSIONARY COUPLE KILLED IN HAITI, AGENCY SAYS
This photo provided by Brad Searcy Photography shows Davy and Natalie Lloyd. Three missionaries were killed in Haiti after being ambushed in Port-au-Prince, missionary organization officials announced Friday, May 24, 2024. Two of the victims were a young American married couple, Davy and Natalie Lloyd, according to a report on Facebook. message from Natalie Lloyd’s father, Missouri State Representative Ben Baker. The third person was Jude Montis, the local director of Missions in Haiti, Inc. (Photograph by Brad Searcy via AP)
Family members said Davy and Natalie joined Missions In Haiti as full-time missionaries after they were married in 2022. The group’s website says its goal is to “see the gospel of Christ make a difference in the lives of young people in Haiti.
“They loved Haiti and loved its people dearly and ultimately gave everything for them. Davy and Natalie lived countless lives in so many ways and we want them to be remembered for who they were, selfless and full of love. “love and dedication to the people of Haiti,” Baker said.
Davy Lloyd’s parents, David and Alicia Lloyd of Oklahoma, founded the organization in 2000 and directed its mission to children. David and Alicia Lloyd are full-time missionaries in Haiti.
“Although the entire nation is plunged into poverty, it is children who suffer the most,” states the Missions In Haiti website. “Thousands of people are malnourished, uneducated and heading toward a hopeless life without Christ.”
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Davy and Natalie Lloyd, American missionaries serving in Haiti, were killed Thursday in a gang attack, said Natalie’s father, Missouri State Rep. Ben Baker. (Ben Baker via Facebook)
Hannah Cornett, Davy’s sister, told The Associated Press that they grew up in Haiti. Davy Lloyd went to the United States to attend a Bible college and married Natalie in June 2022. After the wedding, the couple wasted no time moving to Haiti to do humanitarian work.
Cornett said Montis, a Haitian, had worked in missions in Haiti for 20 years. He leaves behind two children aged 2 and 6.
The organization houses 36 children, 18 boys and 18 girls, in its House of Compassion, the website says. “All are destined to stay at the House of Compassion until they have completed their studies and are ready to live on their own.”
Missions In Haiti also opened the Good Hope Boys’ Home, which houses 22 boys. The organization also built a church, a bakery and a school serving more than 240 students, the website says.
HAITI’S COUNCIL APPOINTS NEW PRIME MINISTER AS COUNTRY CONTINUES TO FACE DEADLY GANG VIOLENCE
A bus passes a police officer on patrol near the airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, May 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph) (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Missions In Haiti said in a Facebook post that Davy Lloyd, 23, and Natalie Lloyd, 21, along with some children, were leaving a group of young people gathered at the church when gang members in three trucks handed them an ambush.
Davy Lloyd then called his family to tell them that gang members had hit him in the head with the barrel of a gun, forced him upstairs, stole their belongings and left tied up, Cornett told The Associated Press.
Missions In Haiti reported that “another gang” went to the scene “to see what was happening and if they could help, they said.”
“No one understood what they were doing, I’m not sure what happened, but one of them was shot and killed and now this gang has gone into full attack mode,” he said. declared the group.
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Davy, Natalie and Jude Montis were in the house, communicating what was happening to Missions In Haiti via Starlink satellite internet. While they were hiding, the gangs began shooting at the house, according to Missions In Haiti.
The missions in Haiti lost contact with the missionaries. Hours later, they announced that Davy, Natalie and Montis had been killed in the attack.
Rep. Baker posted on Facebook Friday that the bodies of Davy and Natalie Lloyd had been found and safely transported to the U.S. Embassy.
A spokeswoman for the Baker family told Fox News Digital that U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., is leading efforts to find an airline willing to transport the bodies to the United States. The Lloyd/Baker family was granted a transportation waiver. the bodies are returned to the United States without being fully embalmed, as there is currently no service in Haiti that can do this for them.
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The spokeswoman said it will take until at least Monday for the family to obtain the required permits and death certificates needed to move the bodies through customs.
A GoFundMe set up by family friends Chris Slinkard and Republican Missouri State Rep. Dirk Deaton has raised more than $35,000 as of Saturday morning to help the Lloyd/Baker family cover costs related to the return bodies of Davy and Natalie at home.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.