[ad_1]
Three women and six children, all with dual US-Mexican citizenship, were killed in an attack, Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said in a news conference Tuesday.
Here’s what we know so far about the attack.
The victims were “all shot while in vehicles while driving,” family member Alex LeBaron told CNN on Tuesday. Several children survived.
Investigators believe the three vehicles, traveling between the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua, were ambushed by criminal groups Monday, Mexican authorities said.
“Women and children (between 14 years old and 10 months) were massacred, burned alive,” LeBaron said. “Mothers were screaming for the fire to stop.”
They were driving together for safety reasons, said Kendra Lee Miller, whose sister-in-law was killed in the attack. The family was supposed to go to Miller’s wedding next week in La Mora, she said.
Seven children injured in the attack were flown from Mexico to Douglas, Arizona, for transport to Tucson hospitals, LeBaron said.
Who carried out the attack?
Mexican authorities — without giving details — said the vehicles were ambushed by criminal groups on Monday evening, though it remains unclear exactly why they were targeted.
Mexican Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said the attack could have been a case of mistaken identity of “conflicting groups in the area.”
They were allegedly attacked “separately but simultaneously by two different groups of the same cartel,” Alex LeBaron told CNN. “Most likely by accident, mistaken for their rivals.”
Who are the victims?
The victims are part of a Mormon community of about 3,000 members living in Mexico.
Generally, the community practices a fundamentalist version of Mormonism, and one of the victim’s family members told CNN that some practice polygamy. Polygamy is illegal in both the United States and in Mexico.
A spokesman from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon Church, said the victims were not members.
“We are heartbroken to hear of the tragedy that has touched these families in Mexico. Though it is our understanding that they are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our love, prayers and sympathies are with them as they mourn and remember their loved ones.”
The LeBaron family has been the victim of drug cartel violence in Mexico.
Two months later, Benjamin LeBaron, 32, and his brother-in-law Luis Widmar were beaten and shot to death after armed men stormed their home in Chihuahua. Authorities later arrested the alleged ringleader of a drug trafficking family that ran a smuggling operation on Mexico’s border with Texas.
How are officials responding?
“If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these… monsters, the United Stands stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively,” he wrote.
“I will thank him for his support and we will discuss if we need assistance,” he said. “I do not believe that we will. It’s Mexico’s responsibility.”
The FBI also has offered to assist Mexican authorities in the investigation, an FBI official said.
[ad_2]
Source link