Plagued by deadly attacks, members of this Mormon community are fleeing Mexico
CNN)Their ancestors fled from the US to Mexico to escape persecution. Now, members of a Mormon community wracked by violence say they're forced to uproot and head back to the US.
"We're not going to live at the mercy of these cartels," said Lafe Langford, who lost nine relatives last week in a grisly attack in northern Mexico.
So
on Saturday, a convoy of 18 vehicles full of family members left La
Mora, a community of fundamentalist Mormons that is not part of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"All
of our hearts are hurting, not just with who we lost, but because
what's been a paradise for the Langfords for 50 years has suddenly
become a place where most don't feel safe," family member Kendra Lee
Miller said.
"Whether it will be (safe) or not, it'll never be the same again."
Those
who left will seek refuge in the US, Langford said. He said they will
stay with family members in Utah, Arizona, North Dakota, Louisiana and
other states.
Of the roughly 45 homes in La Mora, less than a dozen remain occupied, Langford said.
He said many of those who have left claim they will never come back.
"If we don't see a way we can live here, we're done," he said.
The boy who walked 6 hours to get help speaks out
The ambush that killed three mothers and six children also left several child survivors to grapple with a lifetime of trauma.
Devin Langford, 13, watched his mother, Dawna Ray Langford, and two brothers get killed.
Dawna Ray Langford and her son Trevor both died in the massacre.
"A
bunch of bullets just started shooting rapidly at us," Devin told ABC's
"Good Morning America" in an interview that aired Monday.
Devin said he thinks one of the bullets struck the engine of his mother's car, disabling it as she was trying to flee.
"The car didn't work, so she was just trying to start the car as much as she could," Devin told GMA.
Dawna Ray Langford spent her final moments trying to protect her children and praying.
"Get down right now," Devin recalled his mom saying. "She was trying to pray to the Lord."
When the bullets finally stopped, Devin hid six of his siblings in bushes and covered them with branches to "keep them safe while he sought help," Miller posted on Facebook.
He then walked 14 miles across the remote, mountainous terrain of northern Mexico to seek help.
During
that hours-long trek, Devin told GMA, he was overcome with fear "that
there was anybody else out there trying to shoot me or following me."
A girl wounded by gunfire also tried to help
Devin wasn't the only child trying to save other survivors.
As nightfall loomed, 9-year-old McKenzie Langford -- who was shot in the wrist -- grew worried about Devin.
"I gotta go find him," McKenzie said, according to Lafe Langford.
"She
had a bullet through her wrist, but nevertheless, she was probably in
the best shape to walk at that point. And so away she went," Langford
told CNN.
"We found her by her
little footprints. She took the wrong road. Six hours later, and we saw
that her footprints had a shoe, and then a bare little foot because she
had to take her shoes off and her feet were just swollen and covered in
blisters when they found her at 9:30 at night."
But McKenzie didn't complain about her injuries.
"The
first thing that came out of her mouth when she saw her uncles was, 'We
have to go back. We have to go back. My siblings, my brothers and
sisters are dying. They're bleeding, they're shot. We have to go rescue
them,'" Langford said. "And that's all she cared about."
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