Nine Dual U.S.-Mexican Citizens Dead Following Targeted Attack

Nine individuals from a prominent Mormon family in Northern Mexico were murdered after being targeted by what is likely to be the Mexican drug cartel. The massacre happened on Monday, Nov. 4th, 2019. The family’s vehicle was targeted as they traveled on a desert road. 

This attack on the LeBarón family, a family of individuals with dual citizenship to both Mexico and the United States, sparked fury in Mexico as an already intensely high rate of violence has been recorded for 2019. Many have been quick to criticize the Mexican government’s effectiveness at handling- and by extension, deterring- organized crime throughout the nation. 

Of the deceased, six were children, with two of the children being under one year of age. The three adult women killed were the mothers of the children in their respective vehicles. Family members reported what can only be described as an incredibly inhumane and horrifying scene, in which one of the six children was shot down by the attackers whilst attempting to run away. The two children under one were reportedly burned to death as the car their mother was driving was set ablaze by the assailants. It goes without saying that this attack was nothing short of calculated.

Eight children survived the attack, including a seven-month-old who had hastily been hidden in their car seat between the seats of the vehicle amid the attacks. The family also reports several of the children hid from their assailants to survive, while one of the older children hiked for several miles to find help. Though the children were tactful in their survival, it was not without their own injuries. One of the surviving children was shot twice, once in the leg and another in the face, and was in critical condition.

Though Mexico has had an overall high rate of crime this year, it has seen the worst of it in the last month or so, as a spike of similar occurrences to the one on the 4th of November have been becoming more common. 

Mexican authorities have taken over an investigation into the deaths of the women and children, as Mexico’s security minister, Alfonso Durazo, detailed the possibility of the family’s sport utility vehicles being misunderstood by the cartel groups common in the area. The area in which this attack took place is understood to be an area where many cells related to prevalent drug cartels operate, the most notable of which is the cartel formerly run by the notorious El Chapo. 

On the Tuesday following the horrific massacre, Mexico’s president, President López Obrador, was quoted, saying, “You cannot put out fire with fire.” He also promised the citizens of Mexico there would be increased intelligence forces, as well as prosecution and punishment for those the Mexican authorities are able to arrest and take into custody. 

The attack on Monday appeared to have struck a chord with Mexican citizens fed-up with the crime. As authorities investigating the matter continue to piece together the crime, they are also attempting to identify any motive for the murders and attack on this family. The family has been a loud advocate against organized crime in the region around the border between Mexico and the United States. 

The surviving children of the attack were treated at different hospitals around the area, and subsequently airlifted to care in the U.S. The Mormon family does not belong to the recognized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but rather a separate community started in the border region of Mexico in the early 20th century. The community, founded by the LeBarón family, practiced polygamy early on in its history, though that practice has largely ceased to exist. It remains unclear whether the family’s religious beliefs had any factor for motive in their deaths.