US missionary couple shot dead by gang in Haiti

The daughter of Missouri state Rep. Ben Baker and her husband were killed in a gang attack in Haiti on Thursday, May 23. The American couple – Davy and Natalie Lloyd – and Jude Montis, the Haitian head of a nonprofit organization, were shot dead by gang members, according to their organization, Missions in Haiti Inc., AFP reported.

Representative Ben Baker confirmed the deaths of his daughter and son-in-law in a Facebook post. “They were attacked by gangs tonight and both killed. They went to heaven together,” Baker wrote. He claimed his “heart is broken into a thousand pieces” and “I have have never felt such pain.”

The Oklahoma-based nonprofit organization, founded in 2000, said it was “devastated” by the loss and said the missionaries were ambushed and killed by a gang of three truckloads of attackers around 9 p.m. that evening.

Mr Davy was reportedly “taken to the house, tied up and beaten” and the gang looted their belongings. Just then, another gang arrived and escalated the attack, according to a Facebook post. “The gangs have shot all the windows out of the house and are continuing to shoot.”

The incident required urgent action from the White House. A spokesman called for the deployment of a multinational force under Kenyan leadership to Haiti as soon as possible. “The security situation in Haiti cannot wait,” said a spokesman for the National Security Council. He added that President Joe Biden had pledged support for the “expedited deployment” of the force in talks with Kenya’s president.

In response to the attack, Kenyan President William Ruto announced during his visit to Washington that his country’s upcoming troop deployment in Haiti would target the gangs responsible for the violence in the country, AFP reported.