Mexican Officials Arrest 3 Suspects in Mormon Massacre

Three suspects were arrested Sunday by Mexican officials in the November massacre of nine women and children, all members of a Mormon sect, reports CBS News.

The individuals were captured in a joint operation by the Prosecutor General, the National Guard and the National Center for Intelligence. No other information, including the suspects’ identities, according to an official with the office of Mexico’s attorney general who spoke with The New York Times.

The operation was carried out in collaboration with the FBI, which joined the investigation into the killings about a week after the attack happened on Nov. 4.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been the subject of criticism following the attack as he has struggled to set forth a coherent crime-fighting strategy. The incident highlighted his failure to do so.

Many of the victims were shot at point-blank range on a remote stretch of highway in northern Mexico by suspected drug cartel gunmen.

The group attacked, dual U.S.-Mexican citizens, all had links to the prominent LeBaron and Langford families in several small Mormon farming communities that have long been opponents of drug traffickers and have resisted attempts by the criminal groups to extort them in the past.

The convoy the victims were traveling in on the day of the attack were sprayed with gunfire, and one of the vehicles was set on fire, killing a mother and her four children.

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