Father of killed Haitian missionary describes phone call during attack

(NewsNation) — The father of an American missionary said Saturday that his son was fatally shot in Haiti after describing by phone how he was lured into a trap and shot at by gang members who had entered the mission compound.

David Lloyd told NewsNation Prime that he was talking to his son, Davy, when the first gang raided the compound operated by Missions in Haiti Inc.

His son reported being hit on the head with a gun. Then a second heavily armed gang stormed the compound and locked Davy, his wife Natalie and the local mission director, Jude Montis, in Lloyd’s house there.

David Lloyd said his son and daughter-in-law had “a lot of love for the children” they helped in Haiti and recently began full-time missionary work there.

“They were just perfect for Haiti,” he said.

Davy and Natalie Lloyd, along with Jude Montis, were attacked on Thursday after leaving a youth group activity at a church in the Lizon municipality, north of Port-au-Prince.

Ben Baker, Natalie Lloyd’s father and a Missouri state representative, said on Facebook Friday that the couple’s bodies had been safely transported to the U.S. embassy.

David Lloyd said he tried to negotiate with one of the gang leaders to leave, but later learned that the shooting continued and three victims died.

“They were shot at, the house was shot at, the windows were shot at,” he said.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the incident, but David Lloyd suspects one gang ransacked the area before the other moved in. He said the area had fallen into gang hands and police could no longer get in.

Haiti’s capital is crumbling under relentless attacks from violent gangs that control 80 percent of the city, while authorities await the arrival of a police force from Kenya, part of a United Nations-backed mission to stem gang violence in the crisis-ridden Caribbean nation.

David and his wife, Alicia Lloyd of Oklahoma, founded Missions in Haiti in 2000 to focus on the children of Haiti.

Hannah Cornett, David Lloyd’s daughter, told The Associated Press that she and her brother grew up in Haiti. Davy went to the United States to attend Bible school and married Natalie in June 2022. After the wedding, the couple moved to Haiti without much delay to do humanitarian work.

Cornett said Montis, a Haitian, worked in missions in Haiti for 20 years. Cornett said Montis leaves behind two children, ages 2 and 6.

David Lloyd expressed uncertainty about how investigations into the murders could be effectively pursued given that the area is controlled by gangs who have made it a no-go zone for police.

He said outside military forces might be needed to restore control so police could investigate, but he was unsure how they would identify the gang members responsible for the attack.

Haiti has seen a sharp rise in gang-related kidnappings and killings as the country’s political instability deepened following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.