Missouri lawmaker says his daughter and her husband were killed while working as missionaries in Haiti

The daughter and son-in-law of Missouri House Representative Ben Baker were killed while on missionary duty in Haiti, the politician said on social media.

Baker’s daughter Natalie Lloyd and her husband Davy Lloyd were full-time missionaries in the country, the Republican state representative said.

Baker said the two were “gang-attacked” on Thursday night. The shooting occurred in the Lizon neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital.

Baker wrote that his heart was “shattered into a thousand pieces.”

“I have never felt such pain,” Baker said, asking for prayers for both families, adding that he has “no other words at this moment.”

Missions in Haiti, Inc., an Oklahoma-based nonprofit that has been working in Haiti since 2000, said on social media that the Lloyds and a third missionary named Jude Montis were “shot and killed” while barricaded in a house around 9 p.m. local time on Thursday.

David Lloyd, Davy’s father and founder of the mission group, told Tulsa CBS affiliate KOTV on Friday that his son was ambushed by “three pickup trucks full of guys waiting.” Lloyd said the gang “drugged him in the house, beat him, tied him up and started ransacking the house.”

Those gang members eventually left the house. And Montis, a longtime Haitian worker with the mission group, came to the house to help. But then a second gang showed up and gunfire broke out, David Lloyd said.

“Davy, Natalie and Jude barricaded themselves in our house down there, but then the gangs started shooting at the house. Eventually they broke down the door, went in and shot them,” Lloyd said.

The Haitian police union confirmed that Jude was Haitian and the director of an orphanage.

“We are all devastated,” Missions in Haiti said. The organization did not immediately respond to a CBS News request for more information.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the two U.S. citizens killed by gangs in Haiti,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement to CBS News. He also said the U.S. ambassador to Haiti was “in contact” with the victims’ families.

“Unfortunately, this is a reminder that the security situation in Haiti cannot wait – too many innocent lives are being lost,” Miller added. “While Visit of Kenyan President Ruto Yesterday, President Biden reiterated the United States commitment to support the expedited deployment of the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Assistance Mission (MSS) to strengthen the capabilities of the Haitian National Police, protect civilians, restore the rule of law, and pave the path to democratic governance.”

Haiti has been plagued by gang violence since the end of February. Heavily armed gangs launched a joint attack on state institutions and infrastructure. The US government organized evacuation flights for American citizens. Since the violence began, more than 2,500 people have been killed, injured or kidnapped in the country, and deadly violence in the country has reached a “record level,” according to the United Nations.

Last month, Ariel Henry resigned as Prime Minister and a new Transitional Council was sworn in.