CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – An infant in a car seat survived a hail of bullets that killed her American parents who were U.S. consular employees returning from a children’s party yesterday, March 14.
The woman was shot in the head, while her husband suffered wounds in his neck and arm. Their baby girl, who appeared to be about 1 year old, was found unharmed in the back seat, said Vladimir Tuexi, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state prosecutors office.
The pair was identified as consular employee Lesley A. Enriquez, 35, and her husband, Arthur H. Redelfs, 34. Enriquez's family is prominent in Ciudad Juarez; her father was once honorary consul for Belgium.
Mexican authorities has put suspicion on the Aztecas street gang allied with the Juarez drug cartel gangsters for chasing down and opening fire on the American couple and the Mexican man who were all killed when travelling in similar vehicles — white sport utility vehicles.
While the reason for the attacks remain unclear, authorities said the attack was based on “information exchanged with U.S. federal agencies.”
The Associated Press reported the State Department said it would compensate U.S. government employees at Ciudad Juarez and five other U.S. consulates in northern Mexico who decide to send family members out of the area because of concerns about rising drug violence. The cities are Tijuana, Nogales, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros.
The atmosphere of violence in Juarez had been creeping closer to U.S. offices for some time: on Friday, the consulate put a bar just around the block from its office off limits to U.S. government personnel "due to security concerns."
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