17-Year-Old Florida Teen Dies Trying To Save His 6-Year-Old Autistic Brother, Mom Loses Both Sons In Hurricane Ian

A Florida mother is devastated after losing her two sons to the wrath of Hurricane Ian earlier this month.

Six-year-old Tahjir Burrowes and 17-year-old Tahjon Burrowes’ bodies were found by Lehigh Acres police inside a canal that the waters had overrun from the deadly hurricane on October 5.

Tahjir, who was severely autistic, slipped out of the home he shared with his mother, Lachera, and his older brother. The little boy headed toward the dangerous canal, wearing only a t-shirt and diaper after the storm ravaged the fence on the property.  

Tahjon got out of the shower and went to search for Tahjir after discovering the little boy wasn’t inside the home.  

Lachera recalls her oldest boy banging on her door before he sought out to find him, screaming, “Mom, mom, mom! Tahjir got out of the house!”

The panicked mom ran to her vehicle and headed toward the canal. Upon arriving at the channel, Lachera didn’t find her son, and the water was eerily calm.

“I saw nothing,” she said. “Quiet.” 

The worried mother called the police and went searching again for her sons. A knock at the door would be the worst moment of her life. An officer informed Lachera that Tahjon and Tahjir’s bodies were discovered at the canal. She said the older brother likely jumped into the water to save his younger sibling.

She also said the two brothers were inseparable.

“I don’t know if one could be without the other. He could not stand there and not jump in.”

Despite evacuating with her three sons and mother during Hurricane Irma in 2017, the addiction counselor revealed that the move was traumatic for  Tahjir, so she opted to wait the storm out in their Lehigh Acres home.

Billie Harper El organized a GoFundMe for the grieving mother to cover funeral expenses for her beloved sons. Tahjon was a twin, according to the fundraising site.

“We are here to help the Burrowes family in time of sorrow and loss. Lachera Burrowes El, a single mother of three, lost not one but two sons in a day. Tahjir, her baby boy (6) and The brave Tahjon– one of her twin sons(17).”

The GoFundMe has raised almost $30,000 of the $40,000 ask. The funerals are planned for October 26.

NBC News reported that there were over 130 deaths due to Hurricane Ian.