This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/relatives-say-5-us-citizens-killed-in-northern-mexico/2019/11/04/5694d9ee-ff7a-11e9-8341-cc3dce52e7de_story.html

The article has changed 14 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
Nine members of Mormon family, dual U.S.-Mexican citizens, killed in attack in northern Mexico; Trump offers support Nine members of Mormon family, dual U.S.-Mexican citizens, killed in attack in northern Mexico; Trump offers support
(about 3 hours later)
MEXICO CITY — Assailants have killed at least nine members of a fundamentalist Mormon family in northern Mexico, authorities reported Tuesday, burning alive a woman and her children in a brutal assault that highlighted the growing danger posed by organized-crime groups around the country. MEXICO CITY — Assailants have killed at least nine members of a fundamentalist Mormon community in Northern Mexico, authorities said Tuesday, shooting and burning the bodies of women and children in a brutal assault that highlighted the escalating danger posed by organized crime groups around the country.
Alfonso Durazo, the minister of public security, told a news conference that three women and six children were killed. They were part of a community of U.S.-Mexican dual citizens. Public Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo said three women and six children of the extended LeBaron family were killed in attacks on three vehicles Monday in the northern state of Sonora. The victims were part of a community of U.S.-Mexican dual citizens who have lived in Mexico for decades.
The vicious attack stunned a nation still reeling from an assault by Sinaloa Cartel gunmen on the city of Culiacan last month, which forced the government to hand over the son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán shortly after he was captured. The vicious attacks on the women and children — some of whom were traveling to a wedding — stunned a nation still reeling from a series of violent incidents in recent weeks. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been heavily criticized for the botched attempt last month to arrest a son of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Soldiers briefly detained Ovidio Guzmán in Culiacan, but Sinaloa cartel gunmen took control of the city and the government released him.
President Trump tweeted that “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.” He offered to help Mexico strike back at the cartels, saying they “have become so large and powerful that sometimes you need an army to defeat an army!” The attacks Monday drew international intention. President Trump tweeted that “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.” He offered to help Mexico strike back at the cartels, saying they “have become so large and powerful that sometimes you need an army to defeat an army!”
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador thanked Trump for the offer but said Mexico would act with “independence and sovereignty” in pursuing the criminals behind the attack. López Obrador thanked Trump for the offer, but said Mexico would pursue the criminals. “This is a matter of our sovereignty,” he said.
Relatives of the dead posted video of a charred vehicle in which the victims had been traveling. Mexican officials said cartel gunmen might have mistaken the women’s SUVs for those of rival traffickers. But relatives of the victims said the gunmen knew they were firing on civilians.
“There’s been a lot of rival cartels fighting up in this area,” said Lenzo Widmar, one of the community members who found two of the destroyed vehicles. But he said a child who witnessed one of the shootings saw one of the mothers get out of her vehicle and put her hands up.
“They shot her anyway,” Widmar said. “They knew it was women and children.”
More than 200 bullet casings were found near the vehicles, state authorities said.
Widmar said the community had not received any threats recently. He said all the victims lived in Mexico.
Another family member posted video of a charred vehicle in which a mother and her four children had been traveling.
“This is how we live under the government of @lopezobrador,” Alex LeBaron tweeted. “Mexican Mormons, innocent women and children were ambushed in the Chihuahua sierra, shot and burned alive by the Cartels that rule in Mexico!”“This is how we live under the government of @lopezobrador,” Alex LeBaron tweeted. “Mexican Mormons, innocent women and children were ambushed in the Chihuahua sierra, shot and burned alive by the Cartels that rule in Mexico!”
The attack occurred on Monday when the women were driving with their children in several vehicles from Bavispe, in Sonora state, to a Mormon community known as La Mora in neighboring Chihuahua state. Organized-crime groups in the area have been fighting and may have initially mistaken the vehicles for their rivals, according to news reports. Widmar said the attacks began Monday morning after the women left the community of La Mora in Sonora state. One woman, Rhonita Maria Miller, was heading to Arizona to pick up her husband from the Phoenix airport, he said. The other two were going to accompany her as far as a main highway near the border, he said, and then head for the community of LeBaron, in nearby Chihuahua state, to attend a wedding.
One vehicle, driven by Maria Ronita LeBaron, had a flat tire, and the others turned back to get help, according to the reports. The assailants attacked the first car, killing the driver and her four children — including two 6-month-old twins, according to the reports. They then set the vehicle on fire. Miller had car trouble, Widmar said, and the convoy returned to La Mora. When the vehicles set out anew, he said, Miller fell behind the other two women.
When the rest of the group returned to the site in two vehicles, they were also ambushed, the reports said. Several other children escaped. LeBaron was just outside the village of San Miguelito when her Chevrolet Tahoe came under attack, Sonora state security officials said. Assailants shot her and her four children, including 8-month-old twins, relatives and officials said. The vehicle was then set on fire.
Jhon LeBaron, a relative, said in a Twitter post that the victims included the five people in the first car, as well as his aunt Dawna and her 3- and 11-year-old children, and another relative, Christina Langford Johnson. About 11 miles east, toward the Chihuahua state border, authorities found a second vehicle, a white Chevrolet Suburban, with the bodies of a woman and two children. Relatives identified them as Dawna Langford and her 11- and 3-year-old children. They said several other children escaped from the vehicle.
Another member of the clan, Julian LeBaron, said he discovered Christina’s body and her infant when he reached her vehicle. The third vehicle, also a white Suburban, was found about a mile east of the Chihuahua border. The body of a woman was found nearby. She was identified as Christina Langford Johnson.
“I found Christina. She was outside her car, face down, assassinated, and I found her baby, who was still alive,” he told Ciro Gómez Leyva, host of a news show on Radio Formula. Another member of the clan, Julian LeBaron, said he discovered Christina Langford’s body and her infant when he reached her vehicle.
“I found Christina,” LeBaron told Ciro Gómez Leyva, a news host on Radio Formula. “She was outside her car, face down, murdered, and I found her baby, who was still alive.”
“I don’t know if there’s a war here or what’s happening,” LeBaron said.“I don’t know if there’s a war here or what’s happening,” LeBaron said.
Johnson’s cousin Leah Staddon said Johnson’s 6-month-old baby was found on the floor of the vehicle.
“It’s amazing because we first heard that she was dead also, then they found her alive,” said Staddon, who once lived in La Mora but has moved to Queen Creek, Ariz.
One of the children is still missing, she said. Five of the surviving children were flown to Tucson for treatment.
“I think we’re all still in shock, just trying to survive minute by minute,” she said.
In besieged Mormon colony, Mitt Romney’s Mexican rootsIn besieged Mormon colony, Mitt Romney’s Mexican roots
The LeBarons describe themselves as Mormons but are part of a polygamous offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The LeBarons describe themselves as Mormons. They’re part of a polygamous offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The attack came weeks after a botched anti-drug raid, in which Sinaloa Cartel gunmen seized control of the city of Culiacan after soldiers attempted to arrest the son of Guzmán on a U.S. extradition warrant. The government relinquished Ovidio Guzmán to avoid what it feared would be a bloodbath. The attacks came weeks after the botched anti-drug raid in Culiacan. Soldiers attempted to arrest Ovidio Guzmán on a U.S. extradition warrant, but then released him to avoid what officials feared would be a bloodbath.
“Hard to imagine that what happened in #Sonora today won’t impact [Mexico-U. S.] relations and security policy in [Mexico],” wrote Falko Ernst, Mexico analyst for the International Crisis Group, on Twitter. “Over the next days, I’d expect pressure within the U.S. to build on the Trump [administration] — by media and evangelicals, e.g. — and for that pressure to be passed onto López Obrador.”“Hard to imagine that what happened in #Sonora today won’t impact [Mexico-U. S.] relations and security policy in [Mexico],” wrote Falko Ernst, Mexico analyst for the International Crisis Group, on Twitter. “Over the next days, I’d expect pressure within the U.S. to build on the Trump [administration] — by media and evangelicals, e.g. — and for that pressure to be passed onto López Obrador.”
The LeBarons are descendants of Mormons who moved to Mexico in 1924, after disagreeing with the central church over polygamy. For decades, they lived quietly in farming communities, maintaining close ties with the United States and speaking both Spanish and English. Mormons began to settle in Mexico and Canada in the 1870s and 1880s to avoid being prosecuted by the U.S. government over their practice of polygamy, according to Matthew Bowman, a historian at Henderson State University in Arkansas who has studied the Mormon Church. The main LDS Church, headquartered in Utah, abandoned polygamy and began to crack down on its practice by excommunicating members. Offshoot groups such as the LeBaron family began to form in Mexico in the early 1900s.
But their relative wealth made them targets of extortion and kidnapping when organized-crime groups began to assert themselves in northern Mexico. In 2009, a prominent member of the clan, Benjamin LeBaron, 31, was shot dead near his community in northern Mexico. He had publicly denounced the drug traffickers, who had earlier abducted his younger brother, demanding a $1 million ransom. (The family refused to pay). The killers left a message saying they were retaliating for LeBaron’s activism. For decades, the LeBaron clan lived quietly in farming communities, maintaining close ties with family in the United States and speaking both Spanish and English.
The latest attack coincided with a visit to Sonora by U.S. Ambassador Christopher Landau. “The security of our fellow [U.S.] citizens is our priority,” he tweeted. “I am following closely the situation in the mountains between Sonora and Chihuahua.” But their relative wealth made them targets of extortion and kidnapping when organized-crime groups began to assert themselves in northern Mexico. In 2009, a prominent member of the clan, Benjamin LeBaron, 31, was shot dead near his community in northern Mexico. He had publicly denounced the drug traffickers after they abducted his younger brother and demanded a $1 million ransom. (The family refused to pay.) The killers left a message saying they were retaliating for LeBaron’s activism.
In defiance of the LDS Church, the LeBarons say their leaders had special inspiration from God, and began infighting with other polygamous sects in the 1970s, Bowman said.
“One of the things that makes them distinctive in the broader Mormon tradition is how isolated they are,” Bowman said. “They have a reputation for being set apart, for being charismatic, given to vision and prophecy.”
Brittany Shammas and Sarah Pulliam Bailey in Washington contributed to this report.
Read more:
López Obrador and military in rare public spat after El Chapo son is freedLópez Obrador and military in rare public spat after El Chapo son is freed
Mexican government says more than 3,000 graves found in search for the disappearedMexican government says more than 3,000 graves found in search for the disappeared
14 police killed in Mexico ambush14 police killed in Mexico ambush
Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the worldToday’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign newsLike Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news