In this photo provided by the Sonora state Health Secretary, children of the extended LeBaron family, who were injured in an ambush are taken aboard a Mexican Airforce helicopter to be flown to the Mexico-U.S. border, from the border between the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora, Monday, Nov.4, 2019. The children were injured when drug cartel gunmen ambushed three SUVs along a dirt road, slaughtering six children and three women, all U.S. citizens living in northern Mexico, in a grisly attack that left one vehicle a burned-out, bullet-riddled hulk. (Sonora state Health Secretary via AP)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican prosecutors said Sunday they have arrested two more suspects in the 2019 killings of nine U.S.-Mexican dual citizens near the northern border.
Federal prosecutors identified the suspects only by their first names, “Wilbert” and “Tomás,” in line with presumption-of-innocence rules. The first faces several counts of homicide and the second faces organized crime charges.
They bring to about 20 the number of suspects arrested in the case, and more warrants are outstanding. Both were arrested in the town of Nuevas Casa Grandes, near the border with New Mexico.
The three women and six children from the extended Langford, LeBarón and Miller families were ambushed and slain by suspected drug gang assassins on Nov. 4, 2019.
Initial investigations suggested a squad of gunmen from a drug gang that originated in the border city of Ciudad Juarez set up the ambush to kill members of a rival cartel. However, relatives of the victims say that at some point, the gunmen must have known who they were killing.