Sonora: At least 10 U.S. Citizens kidnapped and killed, reports from Mexico and U.S.

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat

All victims are women and children -- They were located yesterday at noon, after a bloody confrontation between cartels in that area of ​​Sonora.

Below are press reports first the mainstream Mexican press by Reforma....."LeBarón family massacre"

At least seven members of the American Mormon family, with the surname LeBarón, were shot yesterday in the boundaries between Sonora and Chihuahua.

The victims were three adult women and four children.

The activist Julián LeBarón informed REFORMA that, his cousin Rhonita María LeBarón and her four children were found with gunshots and burned in a van.

Subsequently, other cousins, who were traveling in two vans with their children, were abducted.

 

Blue circle denotes some of the victims in one family

LeBarón said several of the children managed to escape and ran to a property located several kilometers away and said two women had been killed.

The activist said the family had received threats of organized crime and had reported them.

The families had left Bavispe, in Sonora - hometown of the SSPC chief, Alfonso Durazo - and were heading to the La Mora ranch, in the Mennonite municipality of Galeana, in Chihuahua.

The authorities of both states implemented an operation and managed to locate five other children who had escaped kidnapping.

Until 22:00 hours, the Attorney General of Chihuahua had not officially established the number of victims. [now 10 and more expected]

In social networks, a video circulated in which the fully calcined truck in which five family members, the mother and four children were traveling, can be seen.

According to social media reports, two of the dead children were between eight and 10 years old, while the other two were twins approximately six months old.

The activist Julián LeBarón informed that he went along with federal soldiers and police to the area in search of his relatives.

The US Embassy reported following up on the case report.

"We are aware of these reports. The safety and well-being of US citizens abroad are within the highest priorities of the State Department," said the US Embassy when questioned by REFORM.

The diplomatic headquarters said they are in contact with Mexican officials of multiple levels to offer all possible assistance to family members.

Given the threats of organized crime, the LeBarón family and the Mennonite community in Galeana, Chihuahua, had been supported by a group of Federal Forces of the PF for some years to patrol the area.

The inhabitants paid the food and lodging of a company made up of about 90 elements, but with the arrival of the new federal government, the troops were withdrawn.

Click on image to enlarge

LA Times media report 

MEXICO CITY —  At least five U.S. citizens, including four children, who lived in the Mexican border state of Sonora have been killed in a shooting attack, relatives said Monday.

A relative who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals said he had found the burned-out, bullet-ridden SUV containing the remains of his nephew’s wife and her four children.

Another relative, Julian LeBaron, said on his Facebook page that the dead woman was Rhonita Maria LeBaron. She apparently died along with her twin 6-month-old babies and two other children, ages 8 and 10.

The first relative said as many as 15 others were missing after the attack, which he attributed to drug cartel gunmen. He said he saw dozens of heavily armed gunmen near the burned-out vehicle.

The man said a convoy of three vehicles had set out Monday from La Mora — a decades-old settlement founded as part of an offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — but were attacked by cartel gunmen in what he said may have been a case of mistaken identity. Two of the three vehicles with two women and 13 children were still missing.

Authorities in Sonora state and the U.S. Embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The 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.”

Jhon LeBaron, another relative, posted on his Facebook page that his aunt and another woman were dead, which could bring the death toll to at least seven. But Jhon LeBaron posted that six of his aunt’s children had been left abandoned but alive on a roadside.

The families lived in La Mora, about 70 miles south of Douglas, Ariz. Many of the church’s members were born in Mexico and thus have dual citizenship.

It would not be the first time that members of the breakaway 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 slain in neighboring Chihuahua state.The victims belonged to the LeBaron family from a breakaway Mormon community that settled in the hills and plains of northern Mexico decades ago.

Two relatives Alex and Julian LeBaron told Reuters nine people had died, though a government source only confirmed five.

Julián LeBaron says 7 children remain missing

It was unclear what motivated the killings, which took place on Monday on a dirt road between Chihuahua and Sonora states, both bordering the United States.

A video posted on social media showed the charred and smoking remains of a vehicle riddled with bullet holes that was apparently carrying the victims when the attack happened.

“This is for the record,” says a male voice in an American accent, off camera, choking up with emotion.

“Nita and four of my grandchildren are burnt and shot up.”

Reuters could not independently verify the video.

Mexico has been hit by a wave of attacks in recent weeks, shocking even for a country inured to a decade of drug war violence. The most notable incident was a military-style cartel assault that forced the government to release a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in October.

Given U.S. citizens were killed on Monday, the incident may increase pressure from Washington on President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to rein in armed groups. There was no immediate indication of who was behind the attack.

Gunmen kill Mormon family members in north Mexico

 Reuters  

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Gunmen have killed up to nine members of a U.S. Mormon family, believed to be mainly children, in the latest massacre to afflict Mexico, family members said.

The victims belonged to the LeBaron family from a breakaway Mormon community that settled in the hills and plains of northern Mexico decades ago.

Two relatives Alex and Julian LeBaron told Reuters nine people had died, though a government source only confirmed five.

It was unclear what motivated the killings, which took place on Monday on a dirt road between Chihuahua and Sonora states, both bordering the United States.

A video posted on social media showed the charred and smoking remains of a vehicle riddled with bullet holes that was apparently carrying the victims when the attack happened.

“This is for the record,” says a male voice in an American accent, off camera, choking up with emotion.

“Nita and four of my grandchildren are burnt and shot up.”

Reuters could not independently verify the video.

Mexico has been hit by a wave of attacks in recent weeks, shocking even for a country inured to a decade of drug war violence. The most notable incident was a military-style cartel assault that forced the government to release a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in October.

Given U.S. citizens were killed on Monday, the incident may increase pressure from Washington on President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to rein in armed groups. There was no immediate indication of who was behind the attack.

“WE DON’T KNOW WHO DID IT”

Chihuahua and Sonora state governments issued a joint statement saying an investigation had been launched and that some people were presumed dead and others missing.

The statement noted additional federal and local security forces were being sent into the area near the border between the two Mexican states, but did not provide further details.

Julian LeBaron described the incident as a “massacre,” saying some family members were burnt alive. In a text message, he said other injured members of the family were being transported to Phoenix, Arizona for treatment.

He said four boys, two girls and three women were killed.

“We don’t know why, though they had received indirect threats. We don’t know who did it,” he said.

Several children who fled the attack were lost for hours in the countryside before being found, Julian LeBaron added.

“My cousin was murdered with her children in the truck,” Alex LeBaron said, adding he believed nine people died.

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 Mormons had suffered widespread kidnappings before that.

Mormons of Germanic origin settled in northern Mexico in the 1920s from the United States. The group broke away from the mainstream Mormon church when it abandoned polygamous marriages.

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau, who traveled to Sonora earlier on Monday for unrelated work meetings, said he was following the incident closely.

“The security of our co-nationals is our great priority,” he said on Twitter.

The U.S. embassy in Mexico did not immediately respond to a request for more information after hours.

 Addendum from El Diario Chihuahua

Unofficially, several names of mortal victims of the LeBaron community were announced, who were killed in the limits of Chihuahua and Sonora. They were located yesterday at noon, after a bloody confrontation between cartels in that area of ​​Sonora.

Dawna Langford, 43.

Kylie Evelyn, 14.

Devin Blake, 13.

Trevor Harvey, 11 years old.

Mckenzie Rayne, 9 years old.

Cody Greyson, 7 years old.

Jake Rider, 6 years old.

Xander Boe, 4 years old.

Rogan Jay, 3 years old.

Brixon Oliver, 10 months.

Christina Langford and her baby