Biden Silent After Haitian Gang Rounds Up and Executes American Missionaries
Three missionaries, including two Americans from Oklahoma, were tragically killed Thursday night in Haiti.
The victims were members of Missions in Haiti, an organization that runs a school, two churches, and a children’s home in Port-au-Prince, as reported by The New York Times.
The deceased are David Lloyd III, 23; his wife, Natalie Lloyd, 21; and the organization’s Haitian director, Jude Montis, 20. They were fatally shot in a gang attack.
David Lloyd III was the son of David and Alicia Lloyd, who founded Missions in Haiti in 2000. Natalie Lloyd was the daughter of Missouri Republican state Rep. Ben Baker.
“My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. I’ve never felt this kind of pain,” Baker shared in a Facebook post.
“They went to Heaven together,” he said.
“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.”
Missions in Haiti addressed the tragedy on its Facebook page.
“Davy and Natalie and Jude were shot and killed by the gang about 9 o’clock this evening,” the group announced. “We all are devastated.”
In an earlier post, the organization described the circumstances and requested “urgent prayer.”
“This evening when Davy, Natalie and the kids were coming out of Youth at the church, they were ambushed by a gang of 3 trucks full of guys,” the post stated. “Davy was taken to the house, tied up, and beaten. The gang then took our trucks and loaded everything up they wanted and left.
“Another gang came afterward, claiming to help, but one of their members was shot and killed, which led to a full attack mode from this gang.
“Davy, Natalie, and Jude were in my house at the end of the property using the star link internet to call me. They are holed up in there; the gangs have shot all the windows out of the house and continue to shoot. Their lives are in danger.”
The post mentioned that efforts were underway to get a police response Thursday night.
Haiti has been descending into chaos, exacerbated by the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
Just hours before the missionaries were killed, President Joe Biden, who has faced criticism for not addressing the chaos, stated that his support for having Kenyan troops try to restore order was sufficient.
“There’s a lot going on in this hemisphere, and we’re in a situation where we want to do all we can without us looking like America once again is stepping over, deciding this is what must be done,” Biden said, according to USA Today.
“Haitians are looking for help as well as the folks in the Caribbean are looking for help. And so, we checked out with a number of other countries,” Biden added, but had no immediate comment on the deaths of the missionaries.
David Lloyd, Sr., expressed his grief to the Miami Herald, saying, “I’m just at a total loss. I’m just in total shock. I haven’t grieved. I haven’t done anything else. I haven’t eaten. I can’t think.”
He revealed that he was on the phone with his son moments before the killings.
“I was on the phone with my son when that was going down. He said, ‘Dad, we got a commotion again. I’ve got to go see what’s going on,'” Lloyd recounted.
“They eventually got into the house and killed all three of them and set their bodies on fire,” he said.
Reflecting on his son, David Lloyd Sr. said, “Creole is his first language and Haiti has his heart.”
He remembered his son telling girls, “Don’t even talk to me if you’re not willing to live in Haiti the rest of your life, ’cause that’s my home.”