Victims of Mexican shooting identified as Sacramento husband and wife, relatives of town mayor
Two American citizens who were fatally shot last week while vacationing in Mexico have been identified as residents of Sacramento.
The New York Times and other news outlets reported Saturday that the attack in Angamacutiro, a town halfway between Puerto Vallarta and Mexico City, took place Wednesday when gunmen attacked a couple visiting family in the Michoacán state.
Town officials identified the victims as Rafael Cardona Aguilera and Gloria Ambriz de Cardona, and said they had arrived last month for a holiday stay. Authorities said the victims were the brother and sister-in-law of the wife of the town’s mayor, Hermes Arnulfo Pacheco Bribiesca. The couple had been staying with family through the holidays, a frequent tradition for many Americans with Mexican roots.
The town, population 15,000, is plagued by violence from warring drug gangs, according to the Times, and follows other high-profile killings and abductions in the region.
Authorities said security officials found Ambriz dead from her wounds and Cardona “gravely wounded” inside a vehicle riddled by bullet holes. Cardona later died at a hospital.
Prosecutors said it wasn’t clear why Cardona, 53, who was born in California, and Ambriz, 50, a naturalized American born in Mexico, had been targeted. A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico told the Times it was following the situation closely.
Authorities found Cardona and Ambriz in a 2016 Ford Platinum pickup and collected ballistic evidence at the scene, ABC News reported. Family of the victims in Angamacutiro, where they will be buried, celebrated a funeral Mass on Saturday.
The slaying follows other high-profile killings in Angamacutiro, which borders one of Mexico’s most violent states, the Los Angeles Times reported. The town’s police chief was assassinated in October by men armed with assault rifles and its former mayor remains missing after being abducted earlier this year. The mayor’s brother, who was a state lawmaker, was killed in 2020.
Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s new president, campaigned on promises to thwart violence in the country, according to USA Today, but has faced a bloody start to her term, including the slaying of a judge Wednesday in Acapulco.
The U.S. State Department has warned Americans not to travel in Michoacán state due to crime, kidnapping and violence, and has limited travel routes allowed for U.S. government workers inside the state.
This story was originally published December 15, 2024 at 12:33 PM.
