DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – A South Florida missionary is now recovering in a Palm Beach County hospital after he and his charity group were ambushed by dozens of armed robbers last week in Haiti.
Shot multiple times, Doug Burbella says he is lucky to be alive.
Burbella's group, Living Water Ministry, said they were near St. Marks in northwest Haiti on Thursday, delivering $20,000 worth of computer equipment to a nearby school when they were stopped in their tracks by a roadblock of more than 120 people.
"They were throwing the tires out and lighting them on fire, and I said, ‘This is going to get ugly,'" Burbella said.
Burbella said as the caravan of two vehicles and eight missionaries put their truck in reverse, the bandits began shooting. Their truck was riddled with bullets and a tire was blown out.
Burbella was shot three times in the neck, face and shoulder. A friend of Burbella recorded a video of him lying in the back seat of the truck. Burbella thought that video would be his last words to his wife.
Then his vehicle was approached by people looking for anything they could take.
"They started to flip me over emptying my pockets and going through my wallet. They got $11 and my cellphone," Burbella said.
While Burella said someone eventually persuaded the armed men to let them go, he was already critically injured and needed medical attention fast. Also a physician, he began writing down his symptoms in this book on the way to the Haitian hospital.
His friend Jeff Lee said they were able to get Burbella to Delray Medical Center for further treatment.
Lee said the group has a message to those who know the people of Haiti need help but may be frightened by their experience.
"These are the few. We are not going to stop helping. We can't look at the attitudes of a few and change our heart for the many," Lee said.
Burbella's family has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for his medical expenses.
"It's a miracle that he survived for so long without proper treatment. It's a miracle that he isn't paralyzed," said Michael Burbella, the victim's son. "Prayers are most important to my family, but the transport, surgeries, and medical bills are overbearing."