After witnessing his family brutally murdered in an ambush in Mexico, one 13-year-old boy trekked through the dangerous countryside for six hours to get help for the injured survivors.
Devin Blake Langford was one of the 14 children and three mothers who were attacked and gunned down near the United States’ Arizona border on Monday, his relative Kendra Lee Miller wrote on Facebook early Tuesday morning.
The three mothers, Christina Langford, Rhonita Miller and Dawna Langford, were each driving separate SUVs from their family community, LaMora, in Sonora, Mexico.
Devin was in his mother Dawna’s car when their vehicle was attacked, Kendra said on Facebook. Dawna, 43, and two of her sons — Devin’s younger brothers, Trevor, 11, and Rogan, 2½ — died as bullets tore through their car.
The second oldest of the family, Devin took action, hiding those of his siblings who managed to escape under branches in nearby bushes before walking the 14 miles back to LaMora for help.
While Kylie, 14, McKenzie, 9, Cody, 8, Jake, 6, Xander, 4, and Brixon, only nine months, waited for Devin, he bravely made his way through the mountainous region for aid. It took Devin six hours to get back to family members, and McKenzie ended up leaving while he was gone, also looking for help.
When Devin arrived at LaMora around 5:30 p.m., he brought the first news of the deadly attack with him.
According to Kendra, “Devin’s uncles armed themselves with guns and returned to try and find the hidden children, knowing many of them were injured. They didn’t get far before realizing they would be risking death, since there had been continual shooting for hours, all over the mountains near LaMora. The group of men waited a while for reinforcements, and around 7:30, found the hidden children.”
Yet when the men arrived, McKenzie was missing, as she had fled for help when her older brother didn’t return quickly. After two more hours of searching, McKenzie was found.
By nightfall, Devin’s father David Langford arrived from Tuscon, Arizona. David accompanied the five injured children in a helicopter back to the U.S. to get treated, and Devin, Jake, and Faith remained in LaMora.