Hundreds mourn gang killings of Haitian mission director and young US couple

Hundreds of people packed into a sweltering church in Haiti's capital on Tuesday to mourn Judes Montis, a mission director killed by gang members who also fatally shot a U.S. couple that worked with him.

Wails filled the crowded church during the early morning service as tears streamed down the face of Montis’ wife. The service also honored the lives of Davy and Natalie Lloyd, a married couple in their early 20s who was with Montis when gunmen ambushed them on Thursday night as they left a youth group activity held at a local church.

Montis, 47, leaves behind a wife; two children, ages 2 and 6; and a brother who was present the night the killings occurred.

“We’ll never forget you or the path you created for others!” cried out one mourner as the crowd dressed in black and white made its way from the church to the cemetery.

The service was held just days after the three were killed in a gang-controlled area in a northern part of Port-au-Prince where Montis worked as the local director of the Oklahoma-based Missions in Haiti, a religious organization founded by David and Alicia Lloyd, Davy Lloyd’s parents.

“We are facing the most difficult time of our life,” Missions in Haiti said in a recent Facebook post. “Thank you for all your prayers and support.”

The organization said the U.S. embassy is working on obtaining the documents needed for the bodies of the Lloyds to be flown to the U.S., adding that it has relocated its staff and others to a safer location.

A Facebook post from Cassidy Anderson, a spokesperson for the family, on Tuesday stated that “transport has been completely secured” but that no information would be released because of security concerns.

Natalie Lloyd, 21, is the daughter of Missouri state Rep. Ben Baker. He wrote on Facebook that he spoke by phone Monday with former U.S. President Donald Trump, who called to express his condolences.

“He mentioned how sorry he was that this evil happened to our kids and how beautiful their devotion was to their calling and to the people of Haiti,” Baker wrote.

In a recent interview with the AP, Davy Lloyd’s sister, Hannah Cornett, recalled how they grew up in Haiti because their parents are full-time missionaries, and that Davy Lloyd learned Creole before he spoke English.

She said her parents run an orphanage, school and church in Haiti, and that she and her brothers grew up with the orphans.

Cornett said that the night of the killings, three vehicles carrying gang members had stopped the Lloyds and Montis, hitting her 23-year-old brother with the barrel of a gun and tying him up at his home as they stole their belongings. As people helped untie Davy Lloyd, another group of gunmen appeared and an unidentified person got shot, she said.

The gunmen then opened fire as the Lloyds and Montis tried to take cover in the house where her parents live, she said, adding that their bodies were set on fire.

Haiti’s National Police condemned the killings in a rare statement and extended its condolences to the families of the victims, vowing to arrest those responsible.

However, it’s rare for Haitian gangs involved in high-profile kidnappings or killings to be arrested since the police department is chronically under-resourced and understaffed. Gangs control at least 80% of Haiti’s capital, and violence continues unabated as the country awaits the U.N.-backed deployment of a Kenyan police force that once again has been delayed.

___

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press reporter Hannah Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa.