Daughter of Missouri Lawmaker Killed in Haiti

Ben Baker's daughter Natalie Lloyd and husband Davy ambushed by gangs in Port-au-Prince
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted May 24, 2024 1:18 PM CDT
2 American Missionaries Killed in Haiti
A police officer checks a man for weapons in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, May 11, 2024.   (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

The UN estimates 2,500 people have been hurt or killed during the first quarter of this year amid the ongoing gang violence in Haiti, and now, a Missouri state lawmaker has received tragic news of his own out of the island nation, per KOAM. "My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. I've never felt this kind of pain," Missouri GOP state Rep. Ben Baker wrote on Facebook early Friday. "Most of you know my daughter and son-in-law Davy and Natalie Lloyd are full time missionaries in Haiti. They were attacked by gangs this evening and were both killed. They went to Heaven together."

The New York Times reports that Davy Lloyd, 23, and Natalie Lloyd, 21, were working with Missions in Haiti, an Oklahoma-headquartered nonprofit that runs a school, church, and children's home in the Port-au-Prince's Bon Repos district. The organization was founded by Davy Lloyd's parents in 2000. The AP notes that the Lloyds were ambushed by gang members as they left a youth group activity at a church in the Lizon neighborhood, in the northern part of the capital city. The group's Haitian leader, 20-year-old Jude Montis, was also said to have been killed in the attack. An unsigned Facebook post put up by the nonprofit late Thursday detailed the attack, noting that "3 trucks full of guys" had pulled up to the church where the Lloyds were.

"Davy was taken to the house tied up and beat," the post read. It added that tensions ramped up when another gang showed up, which is when things "went into full attack mode." Gangs have especially overrun Haiti since February, with members going after hospitals, government offices, prisons, and even police stations. A rep for Haiti's National Police tells the Times they don't yet have more details on the killings. It's not clear which gangs were involved in the attack. "Please pray for my family we desperately need strength," Baker wrote in his Facebook post. "And please pray for the Lloyd family as well. I have no other words for now." (More Haiti stories.)

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