An Oklahoma-based missionary group working in Haiti’s capital was attacked by gangs Thursday night, killing the daughter of a Missouri state representative, her husband and a third group member, one of the organization’s founders said.
David Lloyd III and his wife, Natalie, who were full-time missionaries, were attacked and killed by gangs Thursday evening, Lloyd’s mother said in an interview Friday.
Alicia Lloyd, who founded Missions to Haiti with her husband, David Lloyd, in 2000, confirmed the deaths of her son, David Lloyd III, 23, known as Davy, and his wife, Natalie Lloyd, 21. Natalie Lloyd is the daughter of Missouri state Rep. Ben Baker, who announced the couple’s deaths in a statement on his Facebook page.
The identity of the third person killed was not immediately known.
Alicia Lloyd said when her son called to tell her he and their complex were under attack, he was crying and scared for his life.
“He had already suffered a beating at the hands of a gang and they had barged into the premises,” he said in the interview.
He said that after this the gang members took away the vehicles and other items of the organization.
Alicia Lloyd said after they beat her son, he was released and neighbors came to see him. But then things changed when another gang came.
“And then he and his wife and one of our Haitian employees, who has been with us for 20 years,” he said, “were locked in one of the organization’s small houses for two to three hours.”
“Now this gang is in full attack mode,” the organisation said in a post on its Facebook page before the killing of the three.
The organisation’s Facebook post said the couple and other former members of the organisation used a satellite internet link to make calls and spread information about the incident.
The post further said that the gangs had shot out all the windows of the house and that efforts to get a police armoured vehicle to evacuate the missionaries to safety were unsuccessful. The organisation said it had tried to negotiate with the gangs and offer them money to release the three, but at the end of the post it said its communications had broken down.
Hours later, the organization issued a separate statement on its Facebook page, announcing that the three were killed at around 9 p.m.
Alicia Lloyd said gang members set the home on fire, broke down the door and shot Lloyd and another longtime employee.
Haiti has been in turmoil for decades and is increasingly under the control of gangs, who have taken over much of the capital city of Port-au-Prince, including police stations. Gang violence reached unprecedented levels after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in 2021. The United Nations has said the first quarter of 2024 was the country’s deadliest, with 2,500 or more people killed or injured in gang violence. Haiti’s main international airport – Toussaint-Louverture Airport in Port-au-Prince – reopened on Monday for the first time in nearly three months after gang violence forced authorities to close it in early March.
A National Security Council spokesperson said he was aware of reports of deaths of US citizens in Haiti and that President Joe Biden supports multinational efforts to stabilize the country and protect its people.
“Our thoughts are with the families of those killed, who are experiencing unimaginable grief,” the spokesperson said.
Alicia Lloyd said that until recently no one could leave the compound because all the roads around it were blocked and missions in Haiti had to smuggle supplies to their children’s home.
Still, she said she was in shock and disbelief Friday. She said she was in Haiti at the time of the attack and that her husband had left the day before to return to the United States.
David Lloyd III grew up in Haiti and loved the people there, his mother said. At age 18, he went to the United States to attend Bible college and returned to Haiti after graduation to serve the people there, she said.
“It’s sad for me to say this, but he died doing what he loved because he just wanted to help the people of Haiti,” he said. “Because growing up there, he saw the suffering they were going through. He saw the misery they were going through, and he just wanted to do something to make a difference.”
Alicia Lloyd remembers her daughter-in-law as “very sweet-natured.”
“She was a blessing to our family,” he said. “She was one of those people who would just come in and do whatever needed to be done.”
Baker said he taught David Lloyd III at Ozark Bible Institute and College in Missouri before Natalie showed interest in him. Baker also graduated from the Pentecostal school, where he was once dean of students.
“His heart was always for Haiti,” Baker said in an interview Friday.
She said David Lloyd III made it clear to Natalie while they were dating that he felt a “calling” to return to the country after studying at university.
Baker said he and his wife advised Natalie to travel to Haiti and decide to move there before she married David, and she did.
“Apparently, they worked it out and they realized they had to be together,” he said.
They married in June 2022 and moved to Haiti in the fall of that year. The Bakers last saw their daughter and son-in-law in January when they came to the U.S. for a family wedding.
Baker said that even when conditions there got worse, including the last few months when they had no way to get out, they decided to stay because they didn’t want to abandon the children they were caring for and who had no place to go.
“We supported him, no matter how difficult it was for us,” Baker said. “We supported that decision.”
Baker said the mission in Haiti was able to befriend some gang members, who believed the missionaries were there for the right reasons and knew they were doing good work for the people.
He said, “This is a corrupt country. So they have to learn to live in this system.”
He found out about the attack while it was happening and said he felt helpless that as a father he couldn’t intervene and protect the children, particularly his daughter, who he described as an incredibly sweet person who loved children.
“I don’t hold any resentment against the people. I still want to reach out to people in Haiti,” he said.
“The biggest thing I know is that he gave his life,” he said. “He put himself above others.”
