The father of a Claremore man murdered in Haiti last week says his son’s story is too common. Listen above for a story from KWGS’ Elizabeth Caldwell.
TRANSCRIPT:
ELIZABETH CALDWELL: In the months before David Lloyd’s 23-year-old son died, it was as if he knew something was about to happen.
DAVID LLOYD: ‘Cause he’d come in our house and be like, ‘Man, I’m ready to go see Jesus. This world is getting tough.’
EC: Davy Lloyd was one of three missionaries killed in May by gangs in Haiti. The family is based out of Claremore, Oklahoma, but Davy Lloyd grew up in the Caribbean.
DL: When he was in the States, he had Haiti pins on his suits, Haiti pins on his hat.
EC: Davy proposed to his wife Natalie on a beach in Haiti. She joined him in his life’s work to support the country. In a video shared on Facebook, Natalie said she was looking forward to building more with her husband.
NATALIE LLOYD: I’m excited to see Davy’s dream fulfilled through his churches that he wants to plant and his schools that he wants to plant.
EC: In 2021, Haiti’s president was assassinated and gang violence ramped up. But Davy and Natalie stayed. In the same video, Davy said he wanted to help his parents who started the family’s mission in 2000.
DAVY LLOYD: I know mom and dad’s been under quite a load for a while trying to keep everything going. Just to be able to lighten the load a little off their shoulders, maybe they can relax a little bit more and enjoy their life I guess.
EC: The elder Lloyds were out of the country when Davy and Natalie, who’d been married for less than two years, were ambushed and murdered while leaving a church with fellow missionary Jude Montis. David Lloyd said it’s the type of attack that’s become all too common in Haiti.
DL: So the situation in Haiti on the ground is terrible. I told somebody what we’ve experienced Thursday night many families in Haiti has been experiencing, especially the last three years.
EC: Organizations that work in Haiti are reporting record amounts of hunger and violence. The United Nations says 2,500 people were killed or injured by gangs in just the first three months of 2024 alone. David said he hopes the world will not forget about the struggling country that his son adored.
DL: I know there’s a lot of problems in the world, so I don’t know if there’s too many problems in other places in the world for anybody to have concern about Haiti right now, but they’ve been needing an extreme amount of help for at least three years now.
EC: Montis was buried in Haiti on Tuesday. A funeral is being planned for Davy and Natalie. For KWGS News, I’m Elizabeth Caldwell.
