![]() An opaque investigation by Mexico's attorney general office led to a string of questionable arrests, and families of some suspects took to the streets to declare their innocence. And in a rare agreement between the countries, FBI agents were allowed over the border to assist in an investigation.īoth the White House and Mexico's National Palace promised that those responsible would be punished, but by spring the pledges had gone unfilled. ![]() In the days after, a Republican lawmaker even raised the possibility of sending US troops into Mexico, an idea seemingly inspired by action films. It roused the attention of President Donald Trump, whose tweets about the attack spurred blanket media coverage, particularly on Fox News. The brutality of the killings, and that the victims were US citizens and members of a cross-border Mormon community, captured the American imagination. North of the border, cartel atrocities - such as the disappearance of 43 students from Ayotzinapa or the slaughter of 72 migrants in San Fernando - never seemed to galvanize great concern. The obvious suspects were the drug cartels who have waged a bloody war across Mexico, sowing massacres and filling mass graves. "She opened her eyes, like, 'What's up?'" he said. With her head nicked by a fragment of shrapnel, she would survive more than nine hours without food, water, or milk, until a group of relatives, including Julian LeBaron - a carpenter and anti-crime activist from a sprawling Mormon family - arrived to rescue her. The fusillade also missed Faith Marie Johnson, Christina's 7-month-old daughter, who sat in a car seat in the back. His 9-year-old sister wandered lost on dirt paths, with one shoe, her foot bloody and blistered. Five children survived bullets to the back, jaw, leg, wrist, and chest, and hid terrified for hours on the freezing mountainside. In all, three women and six children were killed.Īmid the great brutality fortune showed flashes of mercy. The men shot Christina Langford Johnson dead after she climbed out her Suburban, reportedly to plead for mercy. The men then torched one of the cars, a Chevrolet Tahoe carrying Rhonita Miller LeBaron and four of her children, reducing its frame to a charred husk of metal. The bullets pierced through the vehicles - through cushions, dashboards, and windows. The gunmen opened fire, first attacking the vehicle behind and then striking the two cars in front. ![]() On their way from the farming village of La Mora, some were traveling to a wedding and others north into Arizona. Inside the vehicles were three mothers and 14 children. Three SUVs arrived, two driving ahead, one lagging behind. The Mormons had suffered widespread kidnappings before that.On the morning of November 4, 2019, dozens of men armed with assault rifles positioned themselves for an ambush along a dirt path through Sonora, Mexico, 70 miles from the US border. In 2010, two members of the Chihuahua Mormon community, including one from the LeBaron family, were killed in apparent revenge after security forces tracked drug gang members. The practice is observed by a shrinking number of Mormons in Mexico. The early Mormon settlers in Mexico fled the threat of arrest in the United States for practicing polygamy. Northwestern Mexico has been home to small Mormon and Mormon-linked communities with family ties to the United States since the late 19th century. “If he throws in his whole leverage, as we’ve seen with migration, then there is very little the Mexican government can do to hold its ground,” Ernst said. Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI already work closely with Mexico to combat the cartels.įalko Ernst, senior analyst for the International Crisis Group in Mexico, said Trump’s tweet suggests he may be gearing up to pressure Mexico over security, especially with his campaign under way for re-election in November 2020. Mexico set another record for murders with 33,000 cases in 2018
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