The local representative of the Haitian mission and a missionary couple from the United States He was attacked and shot by gang members. A family member told The Associated Press that the boy had just returned home from a church youth group activity.
The murders on Thursday of Jude Monteith, the country director of Missions in Haiti, and Davie and Natalie Lloyd, a young couple from the United States, took place in the Lison region of northern Haiti. Port-au-PrinceThey were killed as authorities were awaiting the arrival of police troops from Kenya as part of a UN-backed deployment aimed at quelling gang violence in the troubled Caribbean nation as the capital is torn apart by relentless attacks by violent gangs who control 80 percent of the city.
Here’s what you need to know about the mission focused on helping children in Haiti and the gang attack that took three lives.
Working in Haiti
The Haiti Mission’s website says its goal is “to see the Gospel of Christ make a difference in the lives of young people in Haiti.”
Davey Lloyd’s parents, David and Alicia Lloyd of Oklahoma, founded the organization in 2000 to focus on children in Haiti. David and Alicia Lloyd serve as full-time missionaries in Haiti.
“Entire countries are falling into poverty, but it is children who suffer the most,” they write on their website. “Thousands are malnourished, uneducated and headed for a hopeless life away from Christ.”
Davey’s sister, Hannah Cornett, told The Associated Press that the couple grew up in Haiti. Davey Lloyd came to the United States to attend Bible school and married Natalie in June 2022. After getting married, the couple soon moved to Haiti to do humanitarian work.
Monteith, a Haitian native, worked for missionaries in Haiti for 20 years, Cornett said.
The organization’s activities include the House of Compassion, which provides housing for 36 children (18 boys and 18 girls), according to its website. “All of the children will stay at the House of Compassion until they have finished school and are able to live independently.”
According to its website, Good Hope Boys Home provides housing for 22 boys. The organization also built a church, bakery and school for more than 240 students.
attack
According to a post on the Facebook page “Mission in Haiti,” Davey Lloyd, 23, and Natalie Lloyd, 21, were leaving church with several children when gang members in three trucks ambushed them.
Cornett said Davey Lloyd later called his family and told them gang members had hit him over the head with a gun, forced him upstairs, stole his belongings and left him tied up.
As people were helping free Davey Lloyd, another group of armed people with guns showed up, Cornett said.
“No one knew what they were doing. We don’t know what happened, but one person was shot and killed and now this gang is in full attack mode,” the Mission in Haiti post read.
The couple and Monteith fled to a house connected to the mission.
“They tried to hide there, but the gang shot up the house,” Cornett said.
Natalie Lloyd’s father, Republican Congressman Ben Baker of Missouri, posted on Facebook on Friday that the bodies of Davey and Natalie Lloyd had been safely transported to the U.S. Embassy.
Grieving family
Cornett said Monteith leaves behind two children, ages 2 and 6.
Monteith’s family could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. It was unclear whether he used social media and, if so, whether his profiles were public. The Haitian mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press on Friday.
Baker wrote on Facebook that her heart was “shattered into pieces.”
“I have never felt pain like this before,” Baker wrote. “As many of you know, my daughter and son-in-law, Davey and Natalie Lloyd, are full-time missionaries in Haiti. They were attacked tonight by a gang and both were killed. They have both gone to heaven. Please pray for my family. We desperately need strength. And please pray for Lloyd’s family. I have no other words right now.”
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Associated Press writer Summer Valentin in Columbia, Missouri, contributed.
