Young US couple among three missionaries shot by gang in Haiti’s capital

An American couple was among the three missionaries shot dead by a gang in front of a church in the Haitian capital. The country’s capital has been affected by extreme violence for months, with deadly attacks on hospitals, prisons and government buildings.

Missions in Haiti, an Oklahoma-based nonprofit founded in 2000, said Davy and Natalie Lloyd and a third person were killed by gunmen in Port-au-Prince on Thursday night.

The third victim was identified by US media as Jude Montis, the Haitian mission director in Haiti.

“Davy, Natalie and Jude were shot by the gang around 9pm this evening,” Missions in Haiti said on its Facebook page on Friday. “We are all devastated.”

According to a police spokesman, “the bandits entered the house and looted it before murdering the missionaries.”

An investigation is ongoing, the official said.

In an earlier Facebook post, Missions in Haiti said the missionaries had been attacked by a gang in three vehicles.

“Davy was brought to the house tied up and beaten,” it said. “Then the gang took our trucks, loaded everything they wanted into them and disappeared.”

Members of another gang then arrived and “went into attack mode,” the post continued.

“The security situation in Haiti cannot wait,” a National Security Council spokesman said, stressing that President Joe Biden had pledged in talks with Kenya’s president on Thursday to support the “accelerated deployment” of the force.

Read more on FRANCE 24 English

Also read:
Haiti’s Transitional Council appoints new leader
More than 50,000 people flee Haiti’s capital due to rampant gang violence
Haitian gangs loot National Library and endanger historical documents