Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
At Least 9 US Citizens Die in Mexico Cartel Attack
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
November 5, 2019

Share

MEXICO CITY — Drug cartel gunmen ambushed three SUVs along a dirt road, slaughtering at least six children and three women — all of them U.S. citizens living in northern Mexico — in a grisly attack that left one of their SUVs a burned-out, bullet-riddled hulk, authorities said Tuesday.

A relative said the victims lived in the hamlet of La Mora in Sonora state, a decades-old settlement founded as an offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A number of the victims were believed to be members of the LeBaron family.
Another child was wounded, and one was missing. The dead included 6-month-old twins.
Mexican Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo said the attackers may have mistaken the group’s large SUVs for those of rival gangs. He said at least five children were taken to Phoenix for treatment.
In a tweet, President Donald Trump immediately offered to help Mexico “wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth.” But Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador rejected that approach, saying his predecessors waged war, “and it didn’t work.”
A relative said the victims lived in the hamlet of La Mora in Sonora state, a decades-old settlement founded as an offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A number of the victims were believed to be members of the LeBaron family.
La Mora is about 70 miles south of Douglas, Arizona. Many of the church’s members were born in Mexico and thus have dual citizenship. While some of the split-off factions were once polygamous, many no longer are. Extended families live in farming communities clustered around the Chihuahua-Sonora state border.
The group was attacked Monday while traveling in a convoy of three SUVs toward Pancho Villa, Chihuhua. The relative asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.

Second Failure for López Obrador’s ‘Hugs Not Bullets’ Anti-Crime Strategy

The relative said he had located the burned-out SUV containing the remains of his nephew’s wife and her four children — the twin babies and two other children, 8 and 10. Authorities the Chevy Tahoe’s gas tank had apparently been hit by gunfire and exploded.
“The mafia vehicles got her and four of her kids and … burnt them to a crisp,” said the relative.
Two women and two other children were later found dead.
“The United States stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively,” Trump tweeted. “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!
But López Obrador said: “The worst thing you can have is war.”
It was the second failure in recent weeks for López Obrador’s “hugs not bullets” anti-crime strategy. Two weeks ago, Mexican troops seized a son of the drug lord known as El Chapo but had to release him after cartel henchmen launched a furious counterattack in Culiacan, Sinaloa.
The prosecutor’s office in Sonora state gave a description of the crime scene on the Sonora-Chihuahua border. They said police first found the burned-out Chevy Tahoe with the five dead. About 11 miles up the mountainous dirt road, they found a Suburban with a dead woman and two dead children inside. Farther on, they found a second Suburban, and about 15 yards away, the body of a woman.

Soldiers and the National Guard Searched Area for the Missing Child

Police found a total of about 200 spent shell casings from assault rifles and other weapons at the various crime scenes.

“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.”President Donald Trump 
“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,” Trump wrote.
Durazo said police, soldiers and the National Guard searched area for the missing child.
The relative said: “We’re guessing right now, but we believe it was a case of mistaken identity. They just opened fire on the vehicle because it was an SUV.”
Durazo said the Sinaloa cartel had an important presence on the Sonora side, but that a rival gang was trying to invade the territory from the Chihuahua side.
The relative said he saw cartel gunmen gathered about a mile away after the ambush. “The cartels from Sonora, there were probably 50 or 60 of them, armed to the teeth,” he said.
The prosecutor’s office said a suspect had been detained near Agua Prieta, but it was unclear whether the person had taken part in the ambush. The suspect had assault rifles and a .50-caliber sniper rifle and was holding two bound kidnap victims, authorities said.
It was not the first time that members of the breakaway church had been attacked in northern Mexico. In 2009, Benjamin LeBaron, an anti-crime activist who was related to those killed on Monday, was slain in 2009 in Chihuahua state.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Paul Atkins Sworn in as US SEC Chair

DON'T MISS

UnitedHealth Spent $1.7 Million on Executive Security in 2024, Filing Shows

DON'T MISS

US Supreme Court Appears Likely to Uphold Obamacare’s Preventive Care Coverage Mandate

DON'T MISS

Woman in Fresno Mansion Fraud Case Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion

DON'T MISS

California Prisoner Indicted for Exploiting Child Victim While Incarcerated

DON'T MISS

Kennedy Plans to Phase Out 8 Commonly Used Food Dyes

DON'T MISS

The Superintendent Search Document FUSD Does Not Want You to See

DON'T MISS

Trump Approval Rating Dips. Many Wary of His Wielding of Power, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

DON'T MISS

Fresno Woman, Tied to Fentanyl ‘M30 King,’ Sentenced to Federal Prison

DON'T MISS

Tesla Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit Claiming Sudden Acceleration in Ohio Crash

UP NEXT

Trump Is Dismantling the Education Dept. How That Might Harm Special Ed

UP NEXT

Vance, Modi Welcome Significant Progress on India-US Trade Deal

UP NEXT

Israeli Spy Chief Hands Court Scathing Rebuke of Netanyahu Bid to Sack Him

UP NEXT

Israeli Minister Says Freeing Hostages Not ‘Most Important’ Aim of the War

UP NEXT

Palestinian Red Crescent Says Israeli Probe Into Gaza Aid Workers’ Killings Not Enough

UP NEXT

Carney Ahead in Polls as Canada Enters Last Week of Election Campaign

UP NEXT

Pope Francis, First Latin American Pontiff, Dies on Easter Monday

UP NEXT

Chargers in Need of Help at Wide Receiver and Tight End in the NFL Draft

UP NEXT

Magic Happens When Kids and Adults Learn to Swim. Tragedy Can Strike if They Don’t.

UP NEXT

Yemen’s Houthi Rebels Report US Strikes in the Capital and a Coastal City

Woman in Fresno Mansion Fraud Case Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion

11 hours ago

California Prisoner Indicted for Exploiting Child Victim While Incarcerated

11 hours ago

Kennedy Plans to Phase Out 8 Commonly Used Food Dyes

11 hours ago

The Superintendent Search Document FUSD Does Not Want You to See

11 hours ago

Trump Approval Rating Dips. Many Wary of His Wielding of Power, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

11 hours ago

Fresno Woman, Tied to Fentanyl ‘M30 King,’ Sentenced to Federal Prison

11 hours ago

Tesla Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit Claiming Sudden Acceleration in Ohio Crash

12 hours ago

Trump Is Dismantling the Education Dept. How That Might Harm Special Ed

12 hours ago

Special Interests Pour More Than Half a Billion Into CA Lobbying

12 hours ago

Texas Walmart Shooter Who Killed 23 Avoids Death Penalty by Pleading Guilty

13 hours ago

Paul Atkins Sworn in as US SEC Chair

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Paul Atkins, who previously served as a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission member from 2002 to 2008 and wa...

9 hours ago

CEO of Patomak Global Partners Paul Atkins takes part in a strategic and policy CEO discussion with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Eisenhower Execution Office Building in Washington, U.S., April 11, 2017. (REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo)
9 hours ago

Paul Atkins Sworn in as US SEC Chair

The corporate logo of the UnitedHealth Group appears on the side of one of their office buildings in Santa Ana, California, U.S., April 13, 2020. (REUTERS/Mike Blake)
9 hours ago

UnitedHealth Spent $1.7 Million on Executive Security in 2024, Filing Shows

10 hours ago

US Supreme Court Appears Likely to Uphold Obamacare’s Preventive Care Coverage Mandate

Pilar Rose, 51, formerly of Fresno, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and obstructing an IRS audit, agreeing to forfeit her mansion and BMW after falsifying financial records to evade taxes and secure fraudulent loans. (Zillow)
11 hours ago

Woman in Fresno Mansion Fraud Case Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion

Nathaniel Ray Diaz, 21, of Greenfield, is a California state prisoner who has been indicted on federal charges on Monday, April 21, 2025, for allegedly directing a minor to send sexually explicit images while serving time for previous offenses against the same child. (Shutterstock)
11 hours ago

California Prisoner Indicted for Exploiting Child Victim While Incarcerated

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a news conference about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest autism survey in Washington, April 16, 2025. In his first attempt to significantly change the nation’s food supply, Kennedy will direct food manufacturers to phase out eight petroleum-based food dyes that are found in hundreds of thousands of grocery-store staples, the department said on Monday, April 21. (Pete Kiehart/The New York Times)
11 hours ago

Kennedy Plans to Phase Out 8 Commonly Used Food Dyes

11 hours ago

The Superintendent Search Document FUSD Does Not Want You to See

President Donald Trump attends the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 21, 2025. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)
11 hours ago

Trump Approval Rating Dips. Many Wary of His Wielding of Power, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend