In a sweeping move, a multiagency force of federal, state and local law enforcement questioned 100 suspected gang members about the murders of three people associated with the U.S. Consulate in Juarez.. The DEA is leading the multiagency team targeting the Barrio Azteca gang which operates on both sides of the border.
“This unprecedented collaboration between all law enforcement agencies represented in this region exemplifies the continuing unified goal of keeping our community safe and secure. This effort will undoubtedly convey a strong and unified message to those criminals who continue to engage in activities which threaten the safety of our citizens,” stated DEA Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit.
The FBI suspects the gang's members served as hit men in hundreds of killings ordered by the Juarez cartel in the past couple of years and put the Aztecas Juarez leader Eduardo Ravelo, 41, on the top ten most wanted list in October.
The DEA is leading the multiagency team of officers who early this morning tracked down Barrio Azteca gang members and questioned. Officers detained those who had warrants for their arrest but would not confirm the number taken into custody.
"Operation Knockdown" is designed to generate a lead in the murders of Lesley Enriquez, a U.S. Consulate employee, and her husband Aurthur Redelfs, an El Paso Sheriff's Department detention officer. In a separate attack, gunmen killed Jorge Alberto Salcido, the husband another U.S. consulate worker. They had all attended a children's party in Juarez Saturday afternoon right before the shootings.
Mexican authorities investigating the killings have said they suspect the gun men worked for the Azteca Gang or La Linea which is part of the Juarez Drug Cartel. The Barrio Aztecas started as a prison gang on the Texas side of the border but expanded into Mexico. In Juarez they're known as the Aztecas. According to the FBI about 2000 Barrio Aztecas operate in the El Paso area on the U.S. side of the border in West Texas and southern New Mexico.
The U.S. Consul General in Juarez told a local Mexican newspaper investigators think gun men may have targeted the U.S. couple by mistake.
"Art and Lesley were wonderful people and loved by people," said Mike Redelfs, the murdered man's uncle. "They were young couple just beginning their lives together as a family. When they were brutally murdered 7 month old Rebbecca was left in backseat orphaned but thankfully unharmed."
Lesley Enriquez was 4 months pregnant something the family only learned after her murder. "Also tragically Lesley was pregnant at the time and we just now found out that baby Rebecca will never get to know her little brother. There has been an outpouring of love and support for little Rebecca and we are very grateful.
The family has set up a trust fund for the baby girl who survived the attack. Two other children, boys aged 4 and 7, were riding in the other car attacked by gunmen. They were injured and released from the hospital the same day of their father, the husband of a consulate employee died on the scene of the shooting.
