Cousin of slain family in Mexico reacts after a suspect is arrested
Rhonita Maria Miller's cousin Daniel Lebaron says his family hopes that U.S. officials will work with the Mexican government to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Daniel Lebaron, a cousin of Rhonita Maria Miller, says his family would not leave their home in Sonora, Mexico, after a deadly cartel attack earlier this week killed nine of his family members — including Miller.
A suspect was arrested Wednesday near the Arizona border with Mexico in connection with the deaths, six of whom were children. The victims’ convoy was ambushed in broad daylight by gunmen believed to be affiliated with a drug cartel.
In a phone interview with "America's Newsroom's" Bill Hemmer, Lebaron said that the family was still trying to sort out why it happened.
"We thought it might have been mistaken identity," he told Hemmer. "Now we've had quite a bit of evidence that once the attack began, they continued it, knowing that there were women and children in the vehicles. So, as far as why it happened — we're not sure yet."
"But," he added, "it definitely was not crossfire between cartels. This was a direct attack, apparently, from the one cartel."
On Tuesday, President Trump responded to the assault, calling for "WAR" against the drug cartels: "A wonderful family and friends from Utah got caught between two vicious drug cartels, who were shooting at each other, with the result being many great American people killed, including young children, and some missing. If Mexico needs or requests help in cleaning out these monsters, the United States stands ready, willing & able to get involved and do the job quickly and effectively. The great new President of Mexico has made this a big issue, but the cartels have become so large and powerful that you sometimes need an army to defeat an army!
"This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth. We merely await a call from your great new president!" he wrote.
However, Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stood defiant amid mounting criticism of his government’s policy of using "hugs, not bullets" when fighting drug cartels. During his daily media briefing on Wednesday, he reiterated that violence was not the answer or appropriate response to the growing deaths at the hands of cartels.
“It was lamentable, painful because children died, but do we want to resolve the problem the same way (as previous administrations)? By declaring war?” he asked. “That, in the case of our country, showed that it does not work. That was a failure. It caused more violence.”
Lebaron said that Obrador's response has been "typical" and he believes that cartel "business will continue as usual."
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"We're really hoping that the U.S. maybe gets involved. We know that President Trump offered his help as well as Sen. Kevin Kramer from North Dakota. So we're hopeful that at some point the Mexican government will come to its senses and in some way accept some help," Lebaron told Hemmer.
"Regardless of that, it's pretty apparent that they're incapable of solving anything or dealing with this problem. We're really hoping that our governments come together and work on this and come up with some solution," he said.
Lebaron said that the community is devastated, but that they are going to try to figure out how to stay safe, work with the government and "regroup."
Fox News' Lucia I. Suarez Sang contributed to this report.