Young American missionary couple killed by gangs in Haiti

An Oklahoma-based missionary group working in Haiti’s capital was attacked by gangs Thursday night, killing the daughter of a Missouri state legislator, her husband and another member, a founder of the organization said.

David Lloyd III and his wife Natalie, who were full-time missionaries, were brutally attacked by gangs Thursday night and both were killed, Lloyd’s mother said in an interview Friday.

Alicia Lloyd, who founded missions in Haiti with her husband David Lloyd in 2000, confirmed the deaths of her son David Lloyd III (23), known as Davy, and his wife Natalie Lloyd (21). Natalie Lloyd is the daughter of Missouri State Representative Ben Baker, who also announced the couple’s deaths in a statement on his Facebook page.

In an interview Friday, Alicia Lloyd said her son was crying and fearing for his life when he called her to tell her he and her property were under attack.

“He had already been beaten up by a gang, and they had entered the premises,” she said.

The gang members then took the organization’s vehicles and other items and disappeared, she said.

After they beat her son, Alicia Lloyd said, he was released and neighbors came to check on him. But then things took a turn for the worse when a second gang showed up, she said.

“And then they locked him, his wife and one of our Haitian employees who has been with us for 20 years, in one of the organization’s small houses for two to three hours,” she said.

“Now this gang has gone into attack mode,” the organization said in a post on its Facebook page before the three were killed.

The couple and the other long-time member of the organization used a satellite internet connection to make phone calls and report live on the events, the organization’s Facebook post said.

The post added that the gangs shot out all the windows in the house and attempts to get an armored police car to take the missionaries to safety were unsuccessful. The organization said it tried to negotiate with the gang and offer them money to release the three, but ended the post by saying that communication had been lost.

In a separate statement on its Facebook page posted just hours later, the organization said the three were killed around 9 p.m.

Alicia Lloyd said gang members set fire to the house, broke down the door and shot the Lloyds and the other longtime employee.

Haiti has been in turmoil for decades and is increasingly falling under the control of gangs that have taken over most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, including police stations. Gang violence reached unprecedented levels after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. The first quarter of 2024 was the country’s deadliest, with about 2,500 people killed or injured in gang violence, the United Nations said. Haiti’s main international airport – Toussaint-Louverture Airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince – reopened on Monday for the first time in nearly three months after authorities were forced to close it to all traffic in early March due to gang violence.

A National Security Council spokesman said they were aware of reports of deaths of U.S. citizens in Haiti and that President Joe Biden supported multinational efforts to stabilize the country and protect its people.

“Our deepest sympathy goes out to the families of those killed, who are feeling unimaginable grief,” the spokesman said.

Alicia Lloyd said that until recently no one could leave the site because all the roads around it were closed, so the missions in Haiti had to smuggle supplies to the children’s home.

Still, she said she was shocked and stunned on Friday. She was in Haiti at the time of the attack and her husband had returned to the United States just a day earlier, she said.

David Lloyd III grew up in Haiti and loved the people there, his mother said. At age 18, he went to the United States to attend Bible school. After graduating, he returned to Haiti to help the people there, she said.

“It’s sad for me to say this, but he died doing what he loved because he just wanted to help the Haitian people,” she said. “Because growing up there, he saw their suffering. He saw the misery there and just wanted to do something to make a difference.”

Alicia Lloyd remembered her daughter-in-law as a “truly sweet soul.”

“She was just a true blessing to our family,” she said. “She was just one of those people that just does whatever needs to be done.”

Baker said: “My heart is broken into a thousand pieces. I have never felt such pain.”

“They went to heaven together,” he said in his Facebook post. “Please pray for my family. We desperately need strength. And please pray for the Lloyd family too. I’m at a loss for words right now.”

According to the organization’s website, it has been operating missions in Haiti since 1998. Its facilities include a boys’ home, a children’s home, two churches and three schools, all funded by U.S. donors, the website says.

An undated post on the website announced David and Natalie’s joining the organization.

“We are happy to bring you to Haiti!” they said.