A US missionary couple were among three people killed in Haiti as widespread gang violence continues to plague the country.<\/p>\n
Natalie Lloyd, 21, her 23-year-old husband David, and Jude Montis, a 20-year-old Haitian, were ambushed by gunmen as they left a church.<\/p>\n
The couple\u2019s deaths were confirmed on Facebook by Natalie\u2019s father, Missouri State Senator Ben Baker.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were attacked by gangs this evening and were both killed,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThey went to heaven together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple were married in 2022.<\/p>\n
Their organisation, Missions in Haiti, confirmed to US media that Mr Montis was the third victim.<\/p>\n
In an earlier Facebook post, the organisation said that the three were attacked by two separate armed groups, beginning with an attack by gunmen in three vehicles.<\/p>\n
After another group arrived and a gang member was shot dead, the three missionaries were trapped in a house while the gang went \u201cinto full attack mode\u201d, the post added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are holed up in there, the gangs have shot all the windows out of the house and continued to shoot,\u201d the post said.<\/p>\n
Missions in Haiti confirmed that all three were dead three hours later.<\/p>\n
The state department is aware of the deaths, a spokesperson told the BBC\u2019s US partner CBS.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cWe stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n
On X\/Twitter, Missouri Governor Mike Parson called the deaths \u201cabsolutely heart-breaking news\u201d.<\/p>\n
The White House on Friday called for the swift deployment of a Kenyan-led multinational force to stabilise the nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe security situation in Haiti cannot wait,\u201d said a National Security Council spokesperson, adding that President Joe Biden had pledged to support the \u201cexpedited deployment\u201d of the force in talks with Kenya\u2019s president on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hearts go out to the families of those killed as they experience unimaginable grief,\u201d the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the BBC on Friday, Kenyan President William Ruto said this type of incident was part of the reason his country will deploy forces in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be losing people. We shouldn\u2019t be losing missionaries. It is the reason why we made this decision \u2013 knowing very well that the responsibility for security in Haiti is a shared responsibility,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are doing this to forestall and to stop more people losing their lives to gangs,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
In a similar incident in 2021, 17 North American missionaries were kidnapped and held east of Port-au-Prince.<\/p>\n
Five were released and 12 ultimately escaped by using stars for navigation to trek through dense bush.<\/p>\n
Missions in Haiti has been operating in the country since 2000, and is largely focused on helping Haitian children.<\/p>\n
For weeks, gangs had been carrying out deadly co-ordinated attacks, demanding the resignation of the then Prime Minister Ariel Henry.<\/p>\n
He agreed to step down in March. Nine members of the transitional council have now been sworn in to lead the country.<\/p>\n
But the gangs have capitalised on the power vacuum left by Mr Henry\u2019s exit and expanded their control over large swathes of the country.<\/p>\n
Kenya is due to deploy police forces to Haiti at the head of an international force aimed at helping the country\u2019s transitional authorities restore order.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, the UN children\u2019s agency, Unicef, warned that the violence and widespread malnutrition have brought Haiti\u2019s health system to \u201cthe verge of collapse\u201d.<\/p>\n
The post US missionaries killed in Haiti gang violence<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A US missionary couple were among three people killed in Haiti as widespread gang violence continues to plague the country. Natalie Lloyd, 21, her 23-year-old husband David, and Jude Montis, a 20-year-old Haitian, were ambushed by gunmen as they left a church. The couple\u2019s deaths were confirmed on Facebook by Natalie\u2019s father, Missouri State Senator […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44475\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}