Boy, 13, Dead After American Family Attacked in Mexico

Victor Westerkamp
By Victor Westerkamp
January 6, 2020US News
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Boy, 13, Dead After American Family Attacked in Mexico
Glass hit by a bullet after a confrontation between armed men and the Mexican military in Culiacan, Sinaloa State, Mexico, on Nov. 22, 2019. (Rashide Frias/AFP/Getty Images)

An American family came under attack by gunmen in Mexico on Saturday night, leaving three wounded and one 13-year-old boy dead.

All the victims were relatives, who came back from a family visit in the state of San Luis Potosi, the attorney general’s office in the state of Tamaulipas confirmed, according to a report by The Associated Press.

The attack happened just south of the Texas border with Mexico, where the family was traveling in a Chevrolet SUV with Oklahoma state plates on a highway that runs from the city of Mier to Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, which is located just across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The identities of the victims have not been made public, but the attorney general’s office confirmed that the parents were permanent residents of the United States and that the child had U.S. nationality.

The highway runs across areas disputed by several criminal syndicates like the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel and is considered a high-risk area.

President Trump has extended his help to Mexico in curbing drug cartel-related violence that have rattled the region following a similar incident last November in Bavispe, Sonora.

NTD Photo
Members of local Mormon communities and relatives of the extended LeBaron family attend the funeral held for Christina Marie Langford in Le Barón, Mexico, on Nov. 9, 2019.

The Nov. 4 shootout in Mexico left at least nine American citizens dead.

The slain victims were all members of the LeBaron family, American citizens who have lived near the United States-Mexico border for decades.

The victims included three women, four small children, and two infants, family member Alex LeBaron said at the time. He said all nine were dual U.S.-Mexican citizens.

The victims were “all shot while in vehicles while driving,” LeBaron told CNN. Several children survived the attack.

The burnt wreckage of a vehicle
The burnt wreckage of a vehicle transporting a family living near the border with the United States after the family was caught in a crossfire between unknown shooters from rival cartels in Bavispe, Sonora, Mexico, on Nov. 4, 2019. (Kenny Miller/Courtesy of Alex LeBaron via AP)

Mexican Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said the attack could have been a case of mistaken identity of “conflicting groups in the area.”

NTD Web Staff contributed to this article.

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