March 22, 2000
Missionaries car-jacked in Zambia
___ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (ABP)--An American missionary family was car-jacked in Zambia last month.
___The attack on Southern Baptist church planters Steve and Shirley Taylor and their daughter, McKelvey, happened in Lusaka, Zambia, Feb. 17 in the driveway of their home. Taylor recounted the harrowing incident in an e-mail from the Zambezi River Valley.
___"Upon our return (from dinner) at about 8:40 p.m., we pulled into the drive ... and blew our horn for the guard to open the gate," Taylor wrote. "At the same time, we saw a vehicle pull directly behind ... ."
___Four men promptly jumped from the vehicle, carrying automatic weapons, Taylor said. "Two of the men were at my window yelling for me to open the truck, and another man was aiming a rifle at my family on the passenger's side."
___When the men threatened to kill the family, "I realized there was only one thing to do," Taylor said. "I had to surrender the truck."
___Taylor's wife and the couple's 9-year-old daughter complied with the attackers' order to get out and lie on the ground face-down, and Taylor was pushed to the ground by a man holding a gun to Taylor's head.
___Taylor said he was able to roll out of the way of the vehicle when one of the assailants tried to back over him.
___The Taylors not only lost a new mission vehicle but a substantial amount of cash hidden in it for emergencies.
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