2 US citizens killed in armed attack on highway in Mexico

Two Arizona women were killed Friday morning in the northern Mexican state of Sonora when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle, Mexican authorities said.

The victims, aged 72 and 82, originally from the town of Caborca, Sonora, were found dead in an overturned, bullet-riddled white Nissan Pathfinder on the Sonoyta-Caborca ​​highway around 10:30 a.m., the Sonora Attorney General's Office said in a press release.

Mexican authorities conducted a search and found a vehicle believed to be linked to the suspects, described as a stolen Ford F150, which was found abandoned in the city of Quitovac, Sonora. Inside the vehicle, authorities found four firearms, dozens of cartridges and bulletproof vests, the Attorney General's Office said.

Authorities did not initially give a motive for the attack, although there have been several cases of cartel violence in Sonora in recent years.

In June 2023, a doctoral student from California was found dead in an SUV in Sonorawas shot seven times after he disappeared while driving across the border to conduct horticultural research.

In March, prosecutors from Sonora announced that seven bodies had been found near the city of Puerto Peñasco on the Gulf of California. The victims were all men in military uniforms, all of whom had been shot.