Gunfire on Sonora highway strikes 3 in SUV with Oregon plates, killing one

Three U.S. residents, including a U.S. citizen, were fired on while driving on a highway in northwest Sonora early Saturday morning. One of the men was struck and killed and the other two were wounded, authorities said.

Local media in Sonora reported that the victims had refused to stop at an illicit “checkpoint” set up by criminal groups on the highway, which prompted the gunfire. The Arizona Daily Star has not independently confirmed that reporting.

The incident occurred on a stretch of highway that more tourists may be using now since the U.S. closure earlier this month of the Lukeville-Sonoyta port of entry. Tourists have been advised to use alternative routes to reach the beach destination of Puerto Peñasco, known as Rocky Point in Arizona.

One of those recommended routes — entering Mexico through the Nogales port of entry, driving south on Highway 15 to Santa Ana before heading west on Highway 2 toward Caborca — would take tourists on the same highway where Saturday’s shooting took place.

The three men, all in their 30s, were driving from the U.S. to visit family in Michoacán, in southwest Mexico, for the holidays, Sonoran officials said.

The victims were in a white Dodge Durango, with Oregon plates, driving on Highway 2 between Altar and Santa Ana, Sonora, likely having entered Mexico from one of the ports of entry west of the now-shuttered Lukeville port, state officials said.

Around 2 a.m., soon after passing a toll booth on the highway, one of the men was fatally struck by gunfire.

The two other men were wounded but were able to continue driving east to Santa Ana, where they were treated by local emergency responders, Emilio Ibarra, commander of Santa Ana’s municipal police force, said on Monday.

State authorities emphasized that security along the highway, and in the region, has been stepped up in light of the shooting. Authorities are seeking to identify and capture the criminal groups responsible for the attack, according to a statement from the state security board.

“The roads are closely guarded by members of the National Guard and likewise our city (Santa Ana) is guarded by state and local police at the entrances and exits of the municipality,” Ibarra said. “Travel with the peace of mind that if you see any authorities, you can trust that we’re here to help you.”

The body of the deceased man — who was a resident of the state of Oregon and a Mexican citizen, born in Michoacán — has already been transported to his family in Michoacán, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office told the Star on Monday.

One of the injured men was a U.S. citizen, the spokesman said.

The Sonoran Attorney General’s Office said the victims’ vehicle was discovered near the center of Santa Ana, where photos show they were parked outside a pharmacy. The injured men told authorities that soon after passing a toll booth on the highway from Altar, they heard gunfire. The deceased man was lying in the rear, right-side seat of the vehicle, the office said.

The victims took shelter in the local police department after their arrival in Santa Ana, Ibarra said. One of the victims was picked up by family who arrived from Phoenix, and National Guard units accompanied them to the border for security, Ibarra said. The other injured man was transported by local police to Hermosillo, Sonora, so he could fly to meet his family in Michoacán.

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Avoid travel at night in Sonora

Northwestern Sonora has been embroiled in surging violence recently, as criminal factions of the Sinaloa cartel battle over control of smuggling routes.

But Sonoran residents say, regardless of whether there are active battles going on between criminal groups, it’s safer to avoid traveling the state at night.

A tourism official in Rocky Point emphasized on Monday that as long as tourists travel in the daytime, they are still recommending both routes to reach Rocky Point: crossing into Mexico through Nogales before heading to Rocky Point, or using the port of entry further west at San Luis.

The latter route is shorter, and avoids the highway between Santa Ana and the town of Altar. Altar has long been a common way-station for migrants headed to the U.S. border, shepherded by the human smugglers who control passage through the region.

A spokesman for the U.S. Consulate in Nogales, Sonora had no immediate comment on Saturday’s attack, other than to share the consulate’s existing travel advisories for Sonora. The advisories say that government employees are only allowed to reach Puerto Peñasco using Highway 8, from the now-closed Lukeville point of entry.

“They may not travel on any other route to Puerto Peñasco,” the advisory says.

Another existing travel advisory for Sonora suggests visitors “reconsider travel due to crime and kidnapping” in the state.

“Sonora is a key location used by the international drug trade and human trafficking networks,” the advisory states. “Violent crime is widespread. U.S. citizens and (legal permanent residents) have been victims of kidnapping. Travelers should maintain a heightened level of awareness of their surroundings in all their travels in Sonora.”

On Monday the Mexican National Guard arrested eight people, including two minors, in Sásabe, Sonora, for possession of weapons intended for “exclusive use by the armed forces,” the state security board said in a Monday statement.

The National Guard, in collaboration with SEDENA, the Secretary for National Defense, also seized nine firearms, ammunition and the white Toyota Tacoma, without license plates, that the suspects were riding in.

While local media reported the detained men may be suspects in Saturday’s fatal incident, the Star has not confirmed that connection.