Teenage boy walks 14 miles for help after watching nine of his family and friends shot dead in Mexico ambush

Attack on cars carrying women and children prompts Trump to offer to send US Army to fight Mexican drug cartels

The burned wreckage of a car where some of the nine murdered members of a family were killed during an ambush in Bavispe, Sonora mountains, Mexico (AFP/Getty)

A 13-year-old boy who survived a mass shooting of women and children by suspected Mexican drug cartel gunmen managed to hide his six siblings in a bush before walking 14 miles for help.

In total, nine people, all with dual US/Mexican nationality, were killed, including three women and their children, aged between eight months and 14-years old, in the attack on a convoy of three vehicles the families were travelling in.

Of the eight surviving children, five have bullet wounds, according to US reports.

The group, who were travelling together, are all believed to be part of an extensive Mormon community called the LeBaron family.

Mexican investigators have said they believe the three vehicles, travelling between the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua, were ambushed by criminal groups on Monday in an area where two gangs, each linked to different major drug cartels, are vying for power.

The ambush happened at Bavispe in northeastern Sonora, near the US border.

According to a relative, Kendra Lee Miller, whose sister-in-law Rhonita Maria Miller was among the women killed in the attack, “the first vehicle was found full of bullet holes and completely ablaze. Nita and the four of her seven children she had taken on the trip were burned to mostly ashes and only a few charred bones left to identify that all five had been inside.”

Writing on Facebook, she said the other two vehicles had been around 10 miles ahead at the time of the attack, when they were both fired upon.

One of the women, Christina Langford Johnson, reportedly got out of her vehicle and raised her hands to try in an effort to alert the gunmen to the cars being full of women and children, but she was shot dead.

The woman in the other car, named as Dawna Langford, who was transporting nine children, was also shot dead, along with two of her sons.

“After witnessing his mother and brothers being shot dead, Dawna’s son Devin hid his six other siblings in the bushes and covered them with branches to keep them safe while he went for help,” Ms Miller said.

“When he took too long to return, his nine year old sister left the remaining five to try again. Devin arrived in LaMora at 5:30pm, six hours after the ambush, giving the first news anyone had heard of his and Christina’s families.”

Ms Langford Johnson’s baby daughter Faith was found in the bullet hole-riddled vehicle 11 hours after the attack, unharmed and in a baby seat in the passenger footwell.

The other surviving Langford children who hid in the bush were airlifted to the US city of Phoenix.

They include 8-year-old Cody, who was shot in both the jaw and leg, Kylie,14, who was shot in the foot, 4-year-old Xander who was shot in the back and nine-month-old Brixton who was shot in the chest and wrist.

Mexico’s security minister suggested the attack could have been carried out on the women and children as a result of mistaken identity, but members of the LeBaron family have said they have previously been targeted by gangs after speaking out about their activities.

In 2009 drug cartels abducted another member of the community, the anti-crime activist Benjamin LeBaron, for whom they demanded a ransom for his release, but eventually murdered him.

Julian LeBaron, a cousin of one of the murdered women, said the community needed answers.

“We want to know exactly who was behind this, why they did it and from where they are, and we need that information to be true,” he said in an interview on Mexican radio.

“We don’t know who would attack women and children.”

Donald Trump responded to the tragedy on Twitter with the suggestion the US army could be used to break the stranglehold the drug cartels have in parts of Mexico.

Writing on Twitter, the US president said: “A wonderful family and friends from Utah got caught between two vicious drug cartels, who were shooting at each other, with the result being many great American people killed, including young children, and some missing.

“If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively.

“The great new President of Mexico has made this a big issue, but the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!”