Two women traveling from Arizona were killed in an armed attack in northern Sonora on Friday, according to the Sonora Attorney General’s office.
The women, identified by Sonora officials only as Enedina, 72, and Ubaldina, 82, entered Sonora through the Lukeville-Sonoyta port of entry and were attacked as they traveled toward Caborca, their city of origin, according to Sonora officials.
They were found dead in their overturned, bullet-ridden Nissan Pathfinder at 10:30 a.m. Friday, about 21 miles south of Sonoyta, on Federal Highway 2, officials said.
The U.S. State Department confirmed Monday that one of the victims was a U.S. citizen and one was a lawful permanent resident.
The agency is “closely monitoring the situation,” a spokesperson said in a Monday email. “We extend our deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased. We have no further comment at this time.”
Sonora and U.S. officials did not confirm on Monday whether the women were current residents of Arizona, but the Phoenix-based husband of one of the victims posted about the attack on social media last week.
On Friday Mexican security forces launched a search operation to find the perpetrators, with support from air and land forces, the Sonora Attorney General’s office said.
The National Secretary of Defense, known as SEDENA, and National Guard officers located a stolen 2023 Ford F-150 in Quitovac, about 27 miles south of Sonoyta, which contained bullet-proof vests, ammunition and four AK-47 rifles, the office said.
Experts are working to establish whether the weapons match evidence at the crime scene, and the Sonora Attorney General’s office is continuing its investigation, alongside SEDENA, the National Guard, the state police and crime-scene investigators, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s office said Monday.
Officials have not said what motivated the attack. Parts of northern Sonora are experiencing high levels of violence due to territorial battles between rival criminal organizations. Increasingly brutal outbreaks of violence between the groups caused a mass exodus of residents from the border town of Sásabe, Sonora last year.
In December, three U.S. residents, including a U.S. citizen, were fired on while traveling at 2 a.m. on a different stretch of Highway 2, between Altar and Santa Ana. One of the men was killed and the other two were wounded, the Arizona Daily Star reported.
An existing travel advisory from the State Department says travelers to Sonora should “reconsider travel due to crime and kidnapping.”
“Sonora is a key location used by the international drug trade and human trafficking networks,” the advisory says. “Violent crime is widespread. U.S. citizens and LPRs have been victims of kidnapping. Travelers should maintain a heightened level of awareness of their surroundings in all their travels in Sonora.”
State Department employees are not permitted to drive in the area north of Altar, east of Sonoyta and west of the Mariposa U.S. port of entry, an area that includes the highway where the shooting took place. To access Puerto Peñasco, known as Rocky Point in Arizona, officials recommend using only Federal Highway 8, that connects Sonoyta and Puerto Peñasco.
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