Harrowing scene with blood-splattered baby seat and bottle after family massacre

Grieving relatives found a baby's blood-stained bottle of milk and car seat at the gruesome scene where members of a Mormon family were massacred in Mexico.

Distraught members of the LeBaron Mormon community wept and hugged as they peered inside a burned-out SUV that was carrying a mum and four children who were murdered.

They also gathered miles away where two other vehicles were riddled with bullets in a slaughter blamed on ruthless drug cartel gunmen armed with assault rifles.

More than 200 shots were reportedly fired during the execution of three mothers and six children, who were travelling in three vehicles that may have been mistaken for a rival cartel.

Relatives of the victims – dual US-Mexico citizens – have been sharing grim photos of the crime scenes to bolster their calls for a tough response from the Mexican and American presidents.

A family member recorded footage of a smouldering vehicle with the charred remains of a mother and four children inside.

Rhonita Miller, 30, and the kids – Howard Miller, 12, Krystal Miller, 10, and twins Titus and Tiana Miller, both eight months – were killed when the SUV was sprayed with bullets and destroyed by fire.

Mum Dawna Langford, 43, and two of her children – Trevor Langford, 11, and Rogan Langford, two – died in a second vehicle. Seven of her children survived, five of whom were wounded.

Christina Johnson, 29, was shot dead at point-blank range when she got out of a third vehicle with her arms in the air to suggest she was surrendering and unarmed on the remote dirt road in the northern state of Sonora.

Her seven-month-old daughter, Faith, miraculously survived unharmed and has been reunited with her father, Tyler Johnson.

Mexican officials said the cartel may have mistaken the family for members of a rival gang, but relative Lafe Langford rejected that theory.

He told Reuters: "They were targeted and they were killed on purpose."

The Mormon community and drug traffickers have had conflict in the past.

Relatives said Mrs Johnson saved her daughter's life by placing the baby's car seat on the floor before she was attacked.

Bullets "just missed" her tiny body, according to family.

Photos posted by family show Mr Johnson with a huge smile as he cuddles Faith on a sofa at home.

The girl was initially feared dead, but was found alive in the car hours after the attack.

The massacre happened at three different scenes near the Mormon community of La Mora, about 70 miles south of the US border, on Monday afternoon.

Mum Christina Johnson has been hailed a hero for saving her seven-month-old daughter Faith, who miraculously survived the massacre unharmed as bullets "just missed" her tiny body.

Faith's grandmother, Connie LeBaron, wrote on Facebook: "My son Tyler reunited with his baby Faith just now.

"God is so good for sparing her life.

"She is a living angel and has brought hope to our family."

The victims were members of the LeBaron family, a breakaway Mormon community whose ancestors settled in northern Mexico after leaving Utah.

The early Mormon settlers in Mexico fled the threat of arrest in the United States for practicing polygamy.

Family said the Langford children who survived were Kylie, 14, who was shot in the foot; Devin, 13, who was not injured and walked for hours to raise the alarm; McKenzie, nine, whose arm was grazed by a bullet; Cody, eight, who was shot in the face and the leg; Jake, six, who escaped without injury; Xander, four, who was shot in the back; and eight-month-old Brixon, who was shot in the chest.

Devin hid his brothers and sisters with tree branches as he walked 14 miles home to get help.

The five wounded children were airlifted to a hospital in Tuscon, Arizona, and a critically injured boy was transferred to a hospital in Phoenix.

Family members said Mrs Miller was driving to Phoenix, Arizona, with her children to pick up her husband from the airport as he returned home from working in North Dakota.

Her car blew a tyre and she returned to the community to get another vehicle and left again just before Mrs Johnson and Mrs Langford left with their children.

Mrs Johnson and Mrs Langford were heading to the neighbouring state of Chihuahua for a wedding due to take place on Friday.

LeBaron family members have demanded a tough response from Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and US President Donald Trump.

In a series of tweets, Trump threatened to "wage war" against drug cartels.

A oossible suspect has been arrested in Mexico as authorities hunt the gunmen, according to officials.

Mexico's Ministerial Agency for Criminal Investigations said the man was holding two bound and gagged hostages in the border town of Agua Priests, Sonora.

The man was armed with assault rifles and a huge cache of ammunition, the agency said.

Mexican officials were investigating the reason for the attack, but said it may have been a case of mistaken identity.

The LeBaron community is well-known in the region and has had run-ins with drug cartels in the past.

Members of the family were murdered years ago.

Alex LeBaron, a relative, told Reuters that the gunmen surely knew who they were targeting.

He added: "We've been here for more than 50 years. There's no-one who doesn't know them.

"Whoever did this was aware. That's the most terrifying."

Mrs Miller and her children were found in a burnt Chevrolet Tahoe near the village of San Miguelito, according to state prosecutors.

Mrs Langford and her children were found in a a white Chevrolet Suburban just over 10 miles away.

Mrs Johnson's body was discovered about 50ft from her Suburban near the Sonora-Chihuahua border, with her baby daughter alive inside.

A GoFundMe page set up to support the victims' relatives had raised more than £65,000 as of Wednesday morning.

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