US missionary couple killed by gangs in Haiti

An American missionary couple were killed by gang members in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, after being kidnapped as they left a local church.

Davy and Natalie Lloyd “were attacked by gangs tonight and both killed,” Ms. Lloyd’s father, Missouri State Rep. Ben Baker, said in a Facebook post.

“They went to heaven together.”

A third person was also killed in the attack, which occurred Thursday evening in the municipality of Lizon, Lionel Lazarre, head of a Haitian police union, told the Associated Press on Friday. The name of the third person killed was not immediately known.

According to Mr. Baker’s social media, the Lloyds married in 2022 and worked for Claremore, Oklahoma-based Missions in Haiti, Inc., which has been run by Mr. Lloyd’s parents for more than two decades, according to the group’s website.

The mission runs a school in Lizon for over 240 students, which it opened in September 2008, according to its website.

“My heart is shattered into a thousand pieces,” Baker wrote. “I have never felt such pain.”

A Facebook post on the Missions for Haiti page late Thursday said the Lloyds and a group of children were “ambushed by a gang of three trucks full of men” before being taken to a house and shot dead.

It was not immediately clear which gang or gangs were responsible for the shootings.

However, a gang leader named Chyen Mechan — “mean dog” in Haitian Creole — controls the area where the shooting took place, and the leader of another gang named General Jeff also controls an area near the neighborhood where the couple was killed, according to the AP.

Both gangs are part of a coalition called Viv Ansanm, which means “living together”.

The coalition is responsible for carrying out large-scale attacks on critical government infrastructure starting in late February.

Gunmen have attacked police stations, opened fire on the main international airport, which remained closed for nearly three months before reopening earlier this week, and stormed Haiti’s two largest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates.

According to the United Nations, gangs are also blamed for killing or injuring more than 2,500 people in Haiti from January to March, up 50 percent from the same period last year.

Kidnappings are also commonplace; in the past, American missionaries have been among the victims.

The US State Department has long issued a travel warning for Haiti and is urging all US citizens in the country to leave as soon as possible.

Updated: May 24, 2024, 7:18 p.m.