U.S. Missionaries Killed by Gangs in Haiti

A mission group based in Oklahoma, United States, working in the Haitian capital was attacked by armed gangs on Thursday night, leaving two Americans and the group’s director dead, the organization Missions in Haiti announced.

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Missions in Haiti runs a school for 450 children, as well as two churches and a children’s home in the Bon Repos neighborhood on the northern outskirts of Port-au-Prince, which is widely known to be controlled by two local gangs. The independent nonprofit was founded by an Oklahoma couple, David and Alicia Lloyd, in 2000.

The attack occurred Thursday, after two different gangs invaded the organization’s compound, attacking employees and stealing the organization’s vehicles.

The victims were the founders' son, David Lloyd III, 23, known as Davy; his wife, Natalie Lloyd, 21; and the organization’s Haitian director, Jude Montis, 20, the group said.

The Lloys were leaving a section of the mission complex when they were ambushed by three trucks full of men, according to David Lloyd Jr., whose son was killed.

Young Lloyd was taken inside and beaten, his father said. The gang members then took the vehicles and other elements of the organization and left. But things changed when a second gang appeared and one of its members was killed.

"Now this gang went into full attack mode," the organization said in a written post before all three were killed.

Apparently, the Lloyds and the program director were able to make calls over a satellite internet link and tell what was happening while it was happening, describing how they were hiding while gang members were shooting through the windows.