Associated Press
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- The two families climbed into white SUVs and almost simultaneously left the children's birthday party put on by the U.S. consulate. One headed deeper into one of the world's most dangerous cities, the other toward a bridge to El Paso, one of America's safest.
Neither made it.
Gunmen chased down the two vehicles and opened fire in attacks that raised the chilling prospect that Mexico's cartels have dropped any reservations about killing American officials in their battle for the multibillion-dollar U.S. drug market.
Three adults with connections to the U.S. consulate were killed, and two children were wounded.
Mexico said U.S. intelligence pointed toward the Aztecas street gang, which is aligned with the murderous Juarez drug cartel. Authorities raised the possibility that only one of the families was targeted, while the other was chased because they both drove white SUVs. They offered no details of this theory.
Authorities in both countries said they don't know yet why the families were attacked.
The FBI joined the investigation Monday, working with U.S. State Department agents and Mexican authorities.
After the slayings, the U.S. Embassy warned Americans to "delay unnecessary travel to parts of Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua states."
Authorities would not say where the birthday party was held, but said it was not at the consulate. As the party wound down, the two families left separately.
Arthur H. Redelfs, an American who works as a jail guard in El Paso, was at the wheel of his white Toyota RAV4, driving along the broad riverside avenue leading to the Santa Fe Bridge across the border. His wife, Lesley A. Enriquez, a consulate employee who was four months pregnant, was at his side. Their baby girl was strapped into a car seat in back.
Enriquez was killed by a single bullet in the head; her husband by two shots in the neck and arm. Their baby was unhurt, left wailing in the back seat.
Meanwhile, Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, a Mexican citizen who works at a factory south of the border, left the party with his two children, ages 4 and 7, in his white Honda Pilot. His wife, a Mexican citizen who works at the consulate, was not with them. He was killed, and both children were wounded in a hail of bullets from an assault rifle.
