• Mexico.LeBarón, a Mormon community with a long history of violence and kidnappings
  • USA: Trump urges to declare war on Mexican cartels after the attack on a Mormon community
  • Attack: Kill nine members of an American Mormon community in Mexico

After seeing how an armed man shot his mother and his two brothers deadly on Tuesday, 13-year-old Devin Langford hid six of his brothers in nearby bushes and walked several kilometers along a steep stretch of northern Mexico to search help.

The terrible event took place against three Mexican-American Mormon families, who suffered a brutal attack by suspected drug cartel hitmen, who claimed the lives of three women and six children, and provoked outrage and condemnation attitudes in United States.

They kill nine members of an American Mormon community in Mexico.

The families, who belonged to Mormon communities that settled in northern Mexico decades ago, were attacked while driving on a remote dirt road in the state of Sonora. After the attack, Devin, who was not injured, left alone on a hilly and rugged terrain, through which he walked 23 kilometers to seek help, families said in a statement.

The three mothers and 14 children were in three vehicles, which left a small town in Sonora to meet their relatives in the neighboring state of Chihuahua and Phoenix, Arizona.

The killings provoked the immediate reactions of US President Donald Trump, for Mexico to join forces with the United States to suppress drug gangs amid growing concerns over security after a series of mass murders that have occurred in the last weeks.

However, Mexico countered these Trump requests by urging his government to help stop the flow of weapons south of the border. The Minister of Security, Alfonso Durazo, stressed that Remington caps, of American origin, were found at the crime scene. "It is one of the most relevant details we can give you," Durazo told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

No official explanation has been given about the murders, although the Mexican government has said that the victims could have been caught in the crossfire of a bloody territorial war between an arm of the Sinaloa cartel and its rival, the Juarez cartel.

The victims of the massacre

Relatives of the deceased have ruled out the idea that women and children could have been attacked by an identity error in a shooting that, according to the authorities, left more than 200 military artillery caps.

The mothers of the Langford, Miller and Johnson families drove separate vans when the gunmen opened fire. The three mothers lost their lives in the massacre.

The youngest of Devin's brothers, Oliver, nine months old, was shot in the chest; Cody, 8, had gunshot wounds in the jaw and leg, while Xander, 4, was shot in the back. His brothers Trevor, 11, and Rogan, 2, lay dead.

When Devin could not return, his 9-year-old sister, Mckenzie, who was touched by the bullets in his arm, went after him and walked 16 kilometers before losing himself in the dark. The search teams found it later, according to the families. Another sister, Kylie, was shot in the foot, while Brother Ryder was not injured.

Nearby, the attack on the vehicle that transported the Miller family had claimed five lives: that of the mother, Rhonita, and four children, including the 8-month-old twins Titus and Tiana. "All were shot and burned in their vehicle," the family said. "Only ashes and some bones remain."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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