one of the pallbearers, dawna's son, devin langford, in that maroon shirt, the hero boy who walked 14iles to get help after their family's suv came under attack. >> this is devastating. look at the bullet holes there. >> reporter: and tonight, an up-close look at that vehicle. incredible anyone survived. >> look at this. they shot down on it from the top. >> reporter: we're also hearing the moments relatives were first informed what had happened. nine of their loved ones killed in a brutal attack. >> there's five kids sitting on the side of the road, got shot in the mouth, shot in the foot, shot in the leg. we have the oldest boy of dawna's with us right here and they're going to show us where they are. >> reporter: the family sharing the voice memos from a whats app text thread. >> they found her. >> reporter: many of those family members driving to the funerals in a massive con void. no longer taking any chances. the family is not sure anyone will ever pay for these crimes. they day the cartels run this area. but at the funeral, the governor here told me there will be justice. david

a relative says dawna langford ordered her children to duck as their suv came under fire. she was laid to rest thursday. survived by her 13-year-old son, devin, who helped save his siblings by walking six hours to get help. >> dawna was a person that was full of life. she loved people. >> reporter: voice messages from family members capture the chaos following the massacre. >> dawna and christina are gone. they're dead. >> they opened fire, killed dawna and the baby. and another one before they stopped. and dawna's yelling at the kids to get down. >> reporter: of the eight children who survived, several are still recovering. a relative says 8-year-old cody, who was shot in the face, won't be able to talk for six weeks following surgery where his jaw was wired shut. loved ones released new video of 8-month-old brixon who was shot in the chest. and 7-month-old baby faith who was found in her car seat after her mother, christina langford-johnson, was killed, has been reunited with a man identified as her father. dozens of soldiers and police stood guard as relatives attended

dawna's suburban was blown up by the hill. everyone, please pray. dear god, pray for us all. >> reporter: robert lebaron traveled here for the funeral. >> my personal belief is if we can't protect our women and our children, you're no longer a country. >> reporter: while mexican officials believe the attack was a case of mistaken identity in a shootout between rival cartels, some family members who lieve th were targeted. for the eight children who survive the attack, the physical healing will come before the emotional. family members released video of nine-month-old brixton, who was recovering from a shot to the chest and a grazed are wrist, and seven-month-old baby faith, who lost her mother in the attack, is now back with her father. rhonita miller and her four children, including eight-month-old twins, will be laid to rest in the town that bears the family name, colonia lebaron. one family member told me he's not confident those who did this will be brought to justice, but he holds out hope that they will. norah? >> o'donnell: all right, manny.

he's the uncle to dawna langford. david, i don't have words, except obviously, sympathy, and my families prayers to everything that you and your family are going through. the sheer horror of this. the president said he wanted to wage war on the cartels. in mexico. what is your message to him? >> you know, i reached out too him yesterday, i didn't know how effective it would be. because in my mind, president trump is somebody that's not afraid to tackle difficult problems, and this is a difficult one. the people that often challenge the cartels, the end of the dead, the politicians that try to do that, if i understand the fear, that is associated with challenging these folks, but it seems that president trump is willing to do something. because just doing nothing is not an option, i don't believe. my niece needs justice. and also, her children, and the other victims, as well, they need justice. it doesn't need to be, you know, they live in mexico, they accept that risk. i don't buy that. i believe they deserve justice.

two-year-old rogan, 11-year-old trevor, and their mother dawna langford were buried.he six others will be laid to rest in their hometowns. >> this should not have happened to three women and the children. >> reporter: a small army of heavily armed mexican security forces provided protection for the grieving family. the horror of monday's massacre is palpable in voice messages family member kendra lee miller sent to others first obtained by cnn. >> reporter: : robert lebaron traveled here for the funerals. >> my personal belief is if we can't protect our women and our children, you're no longer a country. >> reporter: while mexican officials believe the attack was a case of mistaken identity in a shootout between rival cartels, some family members, who say they have been threatened before, believe they were targeted. for the eight children who survive the attack, the physical healing will come before the emotional. family members released video of nine-month-old brixton, who was recovering from a shot to the chest and a grazed wrist, and seven-month-old baby faith, who

dawna langford, her two-year-old and 11-year-old children were killed.gford's aunt trish cloes. >> it's something that you can't explain how there's evil people in this world that can do such a thing like that. >> reporter: during the gunfire, christina langford johnson hid her baby in the backseat. she left the vehicle with her hands up to plead with the gunmen to stop shooting. witnesses say she was gunned down in cold blood. five other children were wounded. three more were uninjured. mexican authorities arrived at the scene and transported some of the wounded to area hospitals. all the victims were members of a breakaway group of mormon fundamentalists. they settled in the mountains of sonora, mexico, decades ago. on twitter president trump urged mexico's president to accept u.s. assistance to eradicate the drug cartels. he wrote, "this is the time to wage war on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth." today mexico's president andres manuel lopez obrador declined the u.s. offer. >> o'donnell: and mark joins us now. this area of mex

laid to rest dawna langford with her sons 11-year-old trevor and 2-year-old rogan rhonita miller also killed trying to protect her four children howard 12, crystal 10, and 8 month old twins titus and tiana. in a road side ambush, their bod isz left to burn inside the suv. a drug cartel spraying with so many rounds of ammunition, the gas tank exploding with christina langford johnson set to be buried saturday, her baby faith was miraculously found alive in her bullet-riddled suv the funerals held under a military presence. >> i feel angry. i'm pretty sure most of the community feels angry. >> reporter: with no suspects and no arrests, three children still remain hospitalized, including brixton langford, who was shot in the chest. this video sent to his father. >> say hi to daddy >> reporter: the youngest of the injured has lost his mother and two brothers, as they bury the dead miguel almaguer, nbc news, tucson >> a chemical accident at a buffalo wild wings in massachusetts has left a person dead and ten others sickened the restaurant employee was rushed to the hospital after being exp

the mother, dawna ray, her two young children, trevor harvey and rogan jay, in the others.t. the mourners had travelled in convoys from mormon communities in utah and arizona, escorted by the mexican military down the same road where their loved ones had been murdered. they struggled to comprehend the massacre of children. i feel that they really need to get on it and really do something and take it very serious, because it is serious. this should not have happened to three women and their children that were all hurt, injured and died needlessly. for decades, the breakaway religious group lived in relative peace in a region controlled by drug cartels. but that changed with these brutal killings. the mexican government insists the deaths were a mistake. the gunmen from the la linea cartel confused the cars full of children with a rival gang. community elders say that does not add up. translation: the children who witnessed the attack were travelling in the suv and saw their mother get out and raise her arms, and that is when she was gunned down. so the question of whether th

the mother dawna in one, her two young children in the others.k everyone for coming out. mourners travelled in convoys from mormon communities in utah and arizona, escorted by the mexican military down the same road where their loved ones had been murdered. they struggle to comprehend the massacre of children. i feel that they really need to get on and do something and take it very serious because it is serious. this should not have happened to three women and their children who were all hurt, injured and died needlessly. for decades, the breakaway religious group lived in relative peace in a region controlled by drug cartels. but that changed with these brutal killings. the mexican government insists the deaths were a mistake. the gunmen from the la linea cartel confuse the cars full of children with a rival gang. community elders say that does not add up. translation: the children who witnessed the attack were travelling in the suv and saw their mother get out and raise her arms and that is when she was gunned down. so the question of whether t

we have the oldest boy of dawna's with us.rd, he and his 9-year-old sister mackenzie set out to find help. >> he ran all the way home and says the rest of the kids that are still alive are up under a tree. he came running home for help but he says they're just there by themselves. >> reporter: hundreds lined up to mourn the devastating loss. devin, there in the maroon shirt once again lending a hand helping his relatives one last time. and survivor kylie shot in the foot rescued with baby brother dixon walking in crutches as the family gathered to say their final good-byes. now, at the funeral service one of the sons of dawna langford eulogized her. he said when he first heard the news, he prayed to h her. but seven other miracles happened alluding to his brothers and sisters who survived this brutal attack. >> thank you. >>> we will go to that plane crash in southern california. the aircraft slamming into a home, killing the pilot and sparking an inferno. amazingly a father and his toddler were able to escape. matt gutman has

dawna johnson and her son trevor, and christina langford, but her baby miraculously survived. >> there was a number of people in a motorcade, several families traveling to another community and not very far out, their family come under attack and there was a number of vehicles, three of them in particular, that were shot and one of them was set fire. my understanding is that there was some children that was able to escape out of the vehicles unharmed. >> reporter: one of those children, just 13 years old, walking about 14 miles to get help after hiding his bleeding but living siblings in the bushes and covering them with branches. mexican national police and military forces dispatched to the area overnight searching for the gunmen. it comes amid a string of violent episodes in the country. 14 police officers were killed in an ambush stemming from violent clashes. days later, cartel gunmen set off a series of vicious attacks after police captured el chapo's son. the government forced to release the notorious drug lord's son just hours after capturing him. a spokesperson from the u.s. st

dawna and her two sons, dead. they pulled out the surviving children and told them to leave.red and bleeding. they hid under a tree and the oldest went to get out. 10 miles back, gunmen fired some 200 bullets into the third vehicle, killing rhonita and her children. mexican officials claim it burst into flames. the family says it's not true. their belongings were found outside the car, and the gang, they say, set it on fire, victims inside, sending up a column of smoke to lure the rival cartel into a trap. >> there were reports that they shot this vehicle until it blew up, but we now have details and no that's not true. we believe they may have been used as bait to try and attract the cartel in the sonora to th them. >> so, whether they were bait, a random victim, who were a target of a kidnapping, none of this is good for mexico or the backbone of their economy, which is tourism. harris? >> harris: william, thank you for the latest on that. meanwhile, we are awaiting the potential release of additional impeachment inquiry transcripts today. house democrats gearing up to take

here now, david close, and family member of dawna langford. a horrific terrorist act that happened. talk to me a little bit about what you feel when you listen to that letter and what your concerns are about what the cartels are doing down there? >> first of all, i just wanted to say thank you to you and to the american people who have opened up their hearts to the miller, langford, and johnson families. they do appreciate it, and they are very aware that people do care and people are reaching out and telling them that they feel for them in this time of pain for them and tragedy. in regards of how i feel about the letter, i just hope that we can do something to bring justice for my family and these families that so desperately -- that's what they want so desperately. they want justice for those who were killed, for their wives, their sisters, their mothers. >> pardon me. do you think you can get that from the mexican government? are they serious about cracking down on his cartels? >> when i spoke to the grandfather, he told me that they aren't

with four of her several children to tucson, arizona, to go shopping for the wedding. 43-year-old dawnaicle, and 29-year-old christina johnson and her 7-month-old son were in a third vehicle. seven children overall were injured in the attack and are now hospitalized. >> none of my grandchildren made it out. they burnt to a crisp, and my daughter-in-law. and they're about as innocent as they come, and i'm not saying it because she's gone. but she was a good mother to those children, and they're innocent as the day is long. >> reporter: the victims are all members of a mormon community in northern mexico not affiliated with the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. u.s. president donald trump weighing in on twitter saying in part that now would be the time for mexico to wage all-out war on the drug cartels, offering u.s. assistance should mexico want to wage that fight. but the mexican president responded saying he spoke to president trump during the day on tuesday, that he appreciated the offer of assistance, but that this was mexico's fight to win, mexico's fight to seek justice

we have the oldest boy of dawna's with us right here. >> reporter: the family sharing the voice memosread. >> they found kenzie love and she's okay, they found her thank god. >> reporter: many family members driving to the funeral services in a massive convoy protected by police, no longer taking any chances. other family members were also buried. ronita miller and her four children were inside that charred suv that was also shot at. the family tells me they're not sure if anyone will ever pay for these crimes because the drug cartels run this area. at the funeral the governor here tells me there will be justice. tom llamas, abc news. >> heartbreaking story there, our thanks to tom. >>> back at home the icy cold front that's hammering the upper midwest is expanding stretching from texas to maine. >> frigid conditions hampered a daring rescue from the raging niagara river. first responders battled the current for nearly 90 minutes but they finally pulled the nearly unconscious man to shore. >> millions of us are bracing for more snow and below-normal temperatures. accuweather meteorolo

the cars exploded and ten miles down the road, dawna langford and trevor and 2-year-old rogan were killed29-year-old christina langford johnson hid her baby on the floorboards by the back seat. officials say she got out with her hands up but was shot down in cold blood. her baby, 7-month-old faith, was found 11 hours later, unharmed. but amid the chaos, 13-year-old devon langford was able to hide six of his injured brothers and sisters in a nearby bush and covered them with branches. he walked 14 miles for help. a relative says when he took too long to return, his 9-year-old sister, mckenzie, then left her siblings behind, walking for hours in the dark before she was found. some of the surviving children air-lifted from the scene were brought to tucson for treatment. 8-year-old cody shot in the jaw and leg, 14-year-old kylie shot in the foot, 4-year-old xander shot in the back, and 8-month-old brixton shot in the chest. on twitter, president trump offered condolences and military muscle. "this is the time for mexico, with the help of the united states, to wage war on the drug cartels." me

. >> reporter: his mother dawna and two little brothers, trevor and rogen, would not survive the attackrers had long guns and were wearing what looked like bulletproof vests. the family thought they were killers for the drug cartel. >> afterwards they got us out of the car and they just got us on the floor and then drove off. >> reporter: the children tried to flee but as you see from this video later inside of a hospital most were too wounded including sister kylie shot in the foot and baby brother brixon with a bullet wound to the chest. >> we walked a little while so we couldn't carry him anymore. we put him behind a bush and i wasn't hit or nothing. so i started walking because every one of them were bleeding really bad so i was trying to get in a rush to get there. >> reporter: devin eventually getting help. >> to be honest with you my boy is a hero simply because he gave his life for his brothers and sisters. >> reporter: now the langfords part of a fundamentalist mormon group that lived in the area decades before the drug cartels took over have left mexico. it's too dangerous. to