A Missouri state representative posted a heartbreaking tribute to his daughter and son-in-law after they were brutally murdered and set on fire by gangs in Haiti.
Davy Lloyd III, 22, and his wife Natalie, 21, were killed along with a Haitian man when they were shot by members of a criminal gang in Port-au-Prince after leaving a youth group activity at a local church.
The attack occurred Thursday night in the community of Lizon, north of Port-au-Prince, Lionel Lazarre, head of a Haitian police union, told The Associated Press on Friday.
Missouri State Representative Ben Baker, Natalie’s father, remembered the couple in a Facebook post.
“My heart is broken into a thousand pieces,” Baker wrote. ‘I have never felt this kind of pain. Most of you know that my daughter and son-in-law Davy and Natalie Lloyd are full-time missionaries in Haiti. This afternoon they were attacked by gangs and both were killed. They went to heaven together.
Davy Lloyd III, 22, and his wife Natalie, 21, were killed along with a Haitian man when they were shot by members of a criminal gang in Port-au-Prince after leaving a youth group activity at a local church.
The couple will celebrate their second anniversary in June and their birthday in early July.
“Please pray for my family, we desperately need strength,” Baker added. And please pray for the Lloyd family as well. I have no other words for now.’
The third victim was Jude Montis, who was the local director of Missions in Haiti Inc.
Former President Donald Trump shared a post on his Truth Social page about the couple, saying, “God bless Davy and Natalie.” What a tragedy. Haiti is totally out of control. Find the killers NOW!!!’
The killings occurred as the capital crumbles under the relentless assault of violent gangs who control 80 percent of Port-au-Prince, while authorities await the arrival of a Kenyan police force as part of a UN-backed deployment aimed at quelling the gang violence in the troubled Caribbean country.
Hannah Cornett, Davy Lloyd’s sister, said her parents are full-time missionaries in Haiti and she and her two brothers grew up there.
‘Davy spoke Creole before he spoke English. “He was my home,” he said in a telephone interview. “Haiti was all we knew.”
Cornett, 22, said her parents run an orphanage, a school and a church in Haiti, and that she and her siblings grew up with orphans: “It was just a big happy family there.”
Missouri State Representative Ben Baker, Natalie’s father, remembers the couple in a Facebook post.
Members of the Haitian armed forces patrol the streets of Port-au-Prince
Former President Donald Trump shared a post on his Truth Social page about the couple.
He said his older brother was outgoing, had built a garden and raised many animals. While he returned to the US to attend Bible college and later married, he returned to Haiti with Natalie Lloyd to do more humanitarian work.
“They just had a lot of love for Haiti and they just wanted to help the people there,” Cornett said. “That’s his calling.”
Cornett noted that Montis worked for his parents for 20 years and left behind two children, ages 2 and 6.
She said that on the night of the attack, three vehicles carrying gang members stopped the Lloyds and Montis as they crossed the street, striking her brother in the head with the barrel of a gun.
They forced him upstairs, stole his belongings and left him tied up. As people helped untie Davy Lloyd, another group of armed men appeared.
“No one knows what happened,” he said.
An unidentified person was shot and the gunmen opened fire as the Lloyds and Montis fled to the home where their parents live, Cornett said.
“They tried to take refuge there, but the gang shot at the house,” he said, adding that they were killed and their bodies set on fire.
Hannah Cornett, Davy Lloyd’s sister, said her parents are full-time missionaries in Haiti and she and her two brothers grew up there. ‘Davy spoke Creole before he spoke English. She was my home,” she said in a phone interview.
The killings occurred as the capital crumbles under the relentless assault of violent gangs who control 80 percent of Port-au-Prince.
Cornett said his mother returned from Haiti about a month ago, and his father and younger brother flew out on Wednesday because things had been so quiet in the neighborhood.
“No one expected this to happen,” she said through tears.
On Friday afternoon, Baker posted on Facebook that the bodies of Davy and Natalie Lloyd were safely transported to the U.S. Embassy.
The couple worked for Missions in Haiti Inc. The Claremore, Oklahoma, organization was founded by David and Alicia Lloyd, Davy Lloyd’s parents.
Natalie Lloyd’s Facebook page said the couple married on June 18, 2022, and she began working with the mission organization in August 2022. She frequently posted photos of Haitian children on her page.
A Facebook post on the Missions for Haiti page on Thursday night said: ‘Around midnight: Davy, Natalie and Jude were shot and killed by the gang around 9 o’clock this afternoon. “We are all devastated.”
The US State Department said Friday it was aware of the killings. ‘We offer our deepest condolences to the family for their loss. We are ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance.
“Out of respect for the family during this difficult time, we have no further comment,” the agency said.
In a post on its social media, the organization said the two, seen here with Ben Baker, were ambushed by a gang of three truckloads of men after leaving the church.
The couple are said to have been using Starlink Internet to call for help and hid inside a property.
It was not immediately clear which gang or gangs were responsible for the fatal shootings.
However, a gang leader named Chyen Mechan, which means “bad dog” in Haitian Creole, controls the area where the shooting occurred. His real name is Claudy Célestin and he is a fired official from the Haitian Ministry of the Interior.
The leader of another gang known as General Jeff also controls the territory near the neighborhood where the couple was killed. Both bands are part of a coalition known as Viv Ansanm, which means “Living Together.”
The coalition is responsible for launching large-scale attacks against key government infrastructure beginning on February 29.
Gunmen attacked police stations, opened fire on the main international airport that was closed for almost three months before opening earlier this week, and stormed Haiti’s two largest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates.
Gangs are also blamed for killing or wounding more than 2,500 people across Haiti from January to March, a 50% increase compared to the same period last year, according to the United Nations.
Kidnappings are also rampant, and their targets include American missionaries.
In October 2021, gang members kidnapped 17 missionaries, most of them American citizens. Many members of the group, including five children, were held captive for more than two months before escaping.
Police control motorcyclists near Port-au-Prince airport
A woman covers the side of the road with water to prevent dirt from rising, as police patrol near Port-au-Prince airport.
Then, in July 2023, gangs kidnapped an American nurse and her daughter on the campus of a Christian school near Port-au-Prince. They were released almost two weeks later.
The US State Department has long issued a “do not travel” warning to Haiti and urges all US citizens in the country to depart as soon as possible.
On the Missions for Haiti website, the founders wrote that the organization was founded in 2000. It said its goal was to help with “the country’s greatest need: its children.”
A May 2023 newsletter posted on the mission’s website said Natalie ‘has been helping with the children at House of Compassion and helping at our ACE school. Davy has been working on many much-needed projects at our community, including building a laundry room and repairing bathrooms.