A US couple is among three missionaries shot and killed by a gang outside a church in the Haitian capital as the country descends into utter chaos with gangs taking over parts of the city.
Missions in Haiti, an Oklahoma-based group started in 2000, said that armed individuals assassinated Davy and Natalie Lloyd, as well as a third person, in Port-au-Prince on Thursday evening.
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US media reports identified the third victim as Jude Montis, the Haitian Director of Missions in Haiti.
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"Davy and Natalie and Jude were shot and killed by the gang about 9 o'clock this evening," Missions in Haiti said on its Facebook page on Friday. "We all are devastated."
According to a police spokesperson, "the bandits entered the house and looted it before murdering the missionaries."
A police official stated, "The bandits entered the house and looted it before murdering the missionaries."
The official stated that an investigation is now ongoing.
Missions in Haiti had previously said on Facebook that the missionaries were attacked by a group traveling in three trucks.
"Davy was taken to the house tied up and beat," it said. "The gang then took our trucks and loaded everything up they wanted and left."
Members of another gang then came and "went into full attack mode," the statement stated.
In response to the fatalities, the White House urged the immediate deployment of a Kenyan-led multinational force in Haiti to combat chronic gang violence.
"The security situation in Haiti cannot wait," said a National Security Council spokesperson, stressing that President Joe Biden had pledged to support the "expedited deployment" of the force in talks with Kenya's president on Thursday.
"Our hearts go out to the families of those killed as they experience unimaginable grief," the spokesperson added.
