https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lebaro...dren-suspected-drug-cartel-attack-2019-11-05/
Mexico City — At least nine U.S. citizens, including six children, who lived in a Mormon community in northern Mexico were killed Monday in a hail of gunfire, according to family members and Mexican officials. Relatives said they suspected it was a case of mistaken identity by drug cartel gunmen, but there has been no confirmation of a motive in the attack.
The families are members of the La Mora settlement, a decades-old community in Sonora state founded as an offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
One relative said he located one of the burned-out, bullet-ridden SUVs containing the remains of his nephew's wife and her four children, twin seven-month old babies and two other children aged 8 and 10.
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau said in a tweet that Mexican authorities had informed their U.S. counterparts that the dead included three women and six children.
Family members told "CBS This Morning" that the FBI has opened an investigation into the killings. It happened Monday near the town of Bavispe, about 100 miles south of the Arizona border. The victims all left their community at the same time in three separate cars, some were traveling back to the U.S., some to a neighboring town for a wedding.
Suddenly, the convoy of SUVs was sprayed with gunfire. There were so many rounds that family members said one of the cars exploded.
Trump offers to wage "war" on cartels
It would not be the first time that members of the break-away church had been attacked in northern Mexico, where their forebears settled — often in Chihuahua state — decades ago. In 2009, Benjamin LeBaron, an anti-crime activist who was related to those killed in Monday's attack, was murdered in neighboring Chihuahua state.
Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1191708046126399488
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. If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these.....
President Trump appeared to confirm in a series of tweets on Tuesday morning that it was cartel gunmen behind the attack on the family convoy. He said the family "got caught between two vicious drug cartels, who were shooting at each other."
"If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively," Mr. Trump said. "This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!"
During a live news conference alongside one of his senior security officials, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday that he did not believe his country would "need foreign intervention to deal with such cases," but that he was prepared to allow Mexican authorities to work with their U.S. counterparts, provided Mexico's independence was respected.
"I haven't yet seen the message" from Mr. Trump, Lopez Obrador said, adding that he was confident it was meant as an offer to cooperate and help, "and we respect this a lot."
But Lopez Obrador rejected Mr. Trump's call for a "war" with the cartels.
"The worst that we could see is war," he said. "I always say politics was invented to avoid war... War is irrational. We are for peace. It is a characteristic of this new government."
Mexico's federal Department of Security and Citizens' Protection said security forces were reinforced with National Guard, army and state police troops in the area following "the reports about disappearance and aggression against several people."
Mexico City — At least nine U.S. citizens, including six children, who lived in a Mormon community in northern Mexico were killed Monday in a hail of gunfire, according to family members and Mexican officials. Relatives said they suspected it was a case of mistaken identity by drug cartel gunmen, but there has been no confirmation of a motive in the attack.
The families are members of the La Mora settlement, a decades-old community in Sonora state founded as an offshoot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
One relative said he located one of the burned-out, bullet-ridden SUVs containing the remains of his nephew's wife and her four children, twin seven-month old babies and two other children aged 8 and 10.
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau said in a tweet that Mexican authorities had informed their U.S. counterparts that the dead included three women and six children.
Family members told "CBS This Morning" that the FBI has opened an investigation into the killings. It happened Monday near the town of Bavispe, about 100 miles south of the Arizona border. The victims all left their community at the same time in three separate cars, some were traveling back to the U.S., some to a neighboring town for a wedding.
Suddenly, the convoy of SUVs was sprayed with gunfire. There were so many rounds that family members said one of the cars exploded.
Trump offers to wage "war" on cartels
It would not be the first time that members of the break-away church had been attacked in northern Mexico, where their forebears settled — often in Chihuahua state — decades ago. In 2009, Benjamin LeBaron, an anti-crime activist who was related to those killed in Monday's attack, was murdered in neighboring Chihuahua state.
Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1191708046126399488
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. If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these.....
President Trump appeared to confirm in a series of tweets on Tuesday morning that it was cartel gunmen behind the attack on the family convoy. He said the family "got caught between two vicious drug cartels, who were shooting at each other."
"If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively," Mr. Trump said. "This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!"
During a live news conference alongside one of his senior security officials, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Tuesday that he did not believe his country would "need foreign intervention to deal with such cases," but that he was prepared to allow Mexican authorities to work with their U.S. counterparts, provided Mexico's independence was respected.
"I haven't yet seen the message" from Mr. Trump, Lopez Obrador said, adding that he was confident it was meant as an offer to cooperate and help, "and we respect this a lot."
But Lopez Obrador rejected Mr. Trump's call for a "war" with the cartels.
"The worst that we could see is war," he said. "I always say politics was invented to avoid war... War is irrational. We are for peace. It is a characteristic of this new government."
Mexico's federal Department of Security and Citizens' Protection said security forces were reinforced with National Guard, army and state police troops in the area following "the reports about disappearance and aggression against several people."
RIP to the poor family .
.
