A teenager who survived a brutal ambush that killed nine people in Mexico last week and walked 14 miles to get help for his siblings says his mother desperately tried to protect her kids before she was fatally shot.
Devin Langford, 13, was in the car with his family in the Mexican border state of Sonora on Nov. 4 when men who appeared to be wearing bulletproof vests started shooting at them with long guns, the boy told ABC News in his first interview since the attack.
The massacre killed three women and six children, including Devin’s mother, Dawna Langford, and his younger brothers, Trevor, 11, and Rogan, 2. All nine were U.S. citizens who were part of a Mormon offshoot group living in La Mora, Mexico.
Devin said his mother’s final words to her children before she was killed were “get down right now.”
“She was trying to pray the Lord, and she was trying to start the car to get out of there,” he said. But the car wouldn’t start, he said, adding that he believed a bullet hit the engine.
“They just started hitting the car first with a bunch of bullets, just started shooting rapidly at us,” the teen told ABC News.
The gunmen — who Mexican authorities say were drug cartel members who mistook the victims for members of a rival gang — then drove off, Devin said. Devin had no injuries, but his siblings did. Those that survived included a baby brother with a bullet wound to the chest and a sister who was shot in the foot.
Devin said he and the others who were able to walk carried their injured siblings as far as they could.
“We walked a little while till we couldn’t carry them no more,” he said.
Fearing the gunmen would return, Devin hid the wounded children behind a bush and then started walking for help.
“Every one of them were bleeding really bad, so I was trying to get in a rush to get there,” he said.
RELATED: 9 Americans killed in drug cartel shooting in Mexico
15 PHOTOS9 Americans killed in drug cartel shooting in MexicoSee Gallery9 Americans killed in drug cartel shooting in Mexico
TOPSHOT – Members of the Lebaron family mourn while they watch the burned car where part of the nine murdered members of the family were killed and burned during an gunmen ambush on Bavispe, Sonora mountains, Mexico, on November 5, 2019. – US President Donald Trump offered Tuesday to help Mexico “wage war” on its cartels after three women and six children from an American Mormon community were murdered in an area notorious for drug traffickers. (Photo by STR / AFP) (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)
Map locates the site of the cartel killings of at least nine US citizens in the Mexican state of Sonoma;
A member of the Lebaron family looks at the burned car where part of the nine murdered members of the family were killed and burned during an ambush in Bavispe, Sonora mountains, Mexico, on November 5, 2019. – US President Donald Trump offered on November 5 to help Mexico “wage war” on its cartels after three women and six children from an American Mormon community were murdered in an area notorious for drug traffickers. (Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ / AFP) (Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
This frame from Nov. 4, 2019, video by Kenny Miller and posted on the Twitter account of Alex LeBaron shows a burned-out vehicle that was being used by some members of the LeBaron family as they were driving in a convoy near the Sonora-Chihuahua border in Mexico. Mexican authorities say drug cartel gunmen ambushed multiple vehicles, including this one, slaughtering several women and children. (Kenny Miller/Courtesy of Alex LeBaron via AP)
This frame from Nov. 4, 2019, video by Kenny Miller and posted on the Twitter account of Alex LeBaron shows a burned-out vehicle that was being used by some members of the LeBaron family as they were driving in a convoy near the Sonora-Chihuahua state border in Mexico. Mexican authorities say drug cartel gunmen ambushed multiple vehicles, including this one, slaughtering several women and children. (Kenny Miller/Courtesy of Alex LeBaron via AP)
People stand near the burned car where part of the nine murdered members of the Lebaron family were killed and burned during an ambush in Bavispe, Sonora mountains, Mexico, on November 5, 2019. – US President Donald Trump offered on November 5 to help Mexico “wage war” on its cartels after three women and six children from an American Mormon community were murdered in an area notorious for drug traffickers. (Photo by Herika MARTINEZ / AFP) / The erroneous mention appearing in the metadata of this photo has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: byline should read [Herika MARTINEZ] instead of [STRINGER]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention from all your online services and delete it from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require. (Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
This photo shows a view of the car where part of the nine murdered members of the LeBaron family were killed during an ambush in Bavispe, Sonora mountains, Mexico, on November 5, 2019. – US President Donald Trump offered on November 5 to help Mexico “wage war” on its cartels after three women and six children from an American Mormon community were murdered in an area notorious for drug traffickers. (Photo by Herika MARTINEZ / AFP) / The erroneous mention appearing in the metadata of this photo has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: byline should read [Herika MARTINEZ] instead of [STRINGER]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention from all your online services and delete it from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require. (Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
TOPSHOT – Members of the Lebaron family look at the burned car where part of the nine murdered members of the family were killed and burned during an ambush in Bavispe, Sonora mountains, Mexico, on November 5, 2019. – US President Donald Trump offered on November 5 to help Mexico “wage war” on its cartels after three women and six children from an American Mormon community were murdered in an area notorious for drug traffickers. (Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ / AFP) (Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Marcelo Ebrard is pictured in the place where members of the Lebaron family were killed and burned during an gunmen ambush on Bavispe, Sonora mountains, Mexico, on November 5, 2019. – US President Donald Trump offered Tuesday to help Mexico “wage war” on its cartels after three women and six children from an American Mormon community were murdered in an area notorious for drug traffickers. (Photo by STR / AFP) (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)
Chihuahua state police officers man a checkpoint in Janos, Chihuahua state, northern Mexico, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. Drug cartel gunmen ambushed three SUVs along a dirt road, slaughtering six children and three women, all U.S. citizens living in northern Mexico, in a grisly attack that left one vehicle a burned-out, bullet-riddled hulk, authorities said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)
A car passes through Colonia LeBaron, one of many locations where the extended LeBaron family lives in the Galeana municipality of Chihuahua state in northern Mexico, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. Drug cartel gunmen ambushed on Monday three vehicles along a road near the state border of Chihuahua and Sonora, slaughtering at least six children and three women from the extended LeBaron family, all of them U.S. citizens living in northern Mexico, authorities said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)
In this photo provided by the Sonora state Health Secretary, children of the extended LeBaron family, who were injured in an ambush are taken aboard a Mexican Airforce helicopter to be flown to the Mexico-U.S. border, from the border between the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora, Monday, Nov.4, 2019. The children were injured when drug cartel gunmen ambushed three SUVs along a dirt road, slaughtering six children and three women, all U.S. citizens living in northern Mexico, in a grisly attack that left one vehicle a burned-out, bullet-riddled hulk. (Sonora state Health Secretary via AP)
People walk into the emergency room at the hospital treating some of the children injured in an ambush on members of the American Mormon community near the US-Mexico border, in Tucson, Arizona, on November 5, 2019. – Gunmen ambushed the members of the LeBaron family — a large clan of Mormons who emigrated to Mexico in the late 19th century — on a rural road on November 4, between the states of Sonora and Chihuahua, which border the United States. US President Donald Trump offered on November 5 to help Mexico “wage war” on its cartels after three women and six children from an American Mormon community were murdered in an area notorious for drug traffickers. (Photo by Sébastien VUAGNAT / AFP) (Photo by SEBASTIEN VUAGNAT/AFP via Getty Images)
Madelyn Staddon, right, a relative of some of the members of a Mormon community who were attacked while traveling near the US-Mexico border, embraces a neighbor outside her home, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019, in Queen Creek, Ariz. Drug cartel gunmen ambushed three vehicles along a road near the state border of Chihuahua and Sonora on Monday, slaughtering at least six children and three women from the extended LeBaron family, all of them U.S. citizens living in northern Mexico, authorities said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Austin Cloes points to a photo of relatives Rhonita Miller and her family, who were killed in Mexico, on a computer screen Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019, in Herriman, Utah. Drug cartel gunmen ambushed three SUVs along a dirt road, slaughtering at least six children and three women all of them U.S. citizens living in northern Mexico in a grisly attack that left one vehicle a burned-out, bullet-riddled hulk, authorities said Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)Up Next
See Gallery
Devin ended up walking for several hours, traveling 14 miles before he found help. The whole time, he said, he was terrified, wondering if “there wasn’t anybody else out there trying to shoot me or follow me.”
Devin’s father, David Langford, credited Devin with saving his surviving brothers and sisters.
“To be honest with you, my boy’s a hero,” David Langford told ABC News. “Everyone one of my children that survived are living miracles,” he added.
“She was a nice person and a brave woman that tried to save her kids.”
But Devin said he wanted the public to know how heroic his mother had been, too. Pausing to hold back tears, he said, “She was a nice person and a brave woman that tried to save her kids.”
The attack has upended the families’ lives and prompted outrage and skepticism toward Mexican authorities. Many relatives of the victims say they do not believe the shooting was a case of mistaken identity and are demanding answers.
“This was 100 percent intentional,” Ryan Langford, a family member, told “Today.”
Funerals were held last week and over the weekend for the victims. In addition to Dawna Langford and two of her sons, the victims were identified as Christina Marie Langford Johnson, 29; Rhonita Miller, 30; Howard Miller, 12; Krystal Miller, 10; and infant twins, Titus and Tiana Miller.
Dozens of members of the extended family left Mexico in a caravan over the weekend, fearing it was too dangerous to stay.
“No one needs to live in a place they don’t feel safe,” Ryan Langford said.
Source: Read Full Article