U.S. couple among 3 shot dead in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A U.S. missionary couple were shot and killed by criminal gang members in Haiti’s capital after they were abducted while leaving a youth group activity held at a local church, according to a police official and a religious group.

A third person also was killed during the attack Thursday evening in the community of Lizon in northern Port-auPrince, Lionel Lazarre, head of a Haitian police union, said Friday.

The slayings occurred as the capital crumbles under the relentless assault of violent gangs that control 80% of Portau-Prince while authorities await the arrival of a police force from Kenya as part of a U.N.-backed deployment aimed at quelling violence.

Two of the victims were a young married couple, Davy and Natalie Lloyd, according to a Facebook posting from Natalie Lloyd’s father, Missouri state Rep. Ben Baker. The name of the third person killed wasn’t immediately available.

“My heart is broken in a thousand pieces,” Baker wrote on Facebook on Thursday.

The couple worked for Missions in Haiti Inc. The Claremore, Okla., organization was founded by David and Alicia Lloyd, Davy Lloyd’s parents.

A Facebook posting on the Missions for Haiti page late Thursday stated that Davy and Natalie, along with children, were leaving a church when “they were ambushed by a gang of 3 trucks full of guys.”

The posting said Davy Lloyd was taken to a house, where he was tied up and beaten. The post later said that Davy, Natalie and a third person, listed only as Jude, were at the house when shooting broke out.

It wasn’t clear which gang or gangs were responsible for the fatal shootings.