Seven members of the same family found dead in home after shocking murder of two priests and a tour guide in church

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SEVEN members of the same family were found shot dead in a home in Mexico, authorities revealed on Monday.

It comes as Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador faces scrutiny over his security policies after the murders of two priests and a tour guide in a church late last month.

Members of the Mexican National Guard and the Mexican Army stand guard at the crime scene where unknown assailants left a woman's body wrapped in a blanket outside an elementary school in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. — Members of the Mexican National Guard and the Mexican Army stand guard at the crime scene where unknown assailants left a woman’s body wrapped in a blanket outside an elementary school in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.Credit: Reuters

The coffins of Jesuit priests Javier Campos and Joaquin Mora, are covered at the Sagrado Corazon de Jesus church in Chihuahua, Mexico,Credit: Reuters

In the latest incident, Mexico’s State Prosecutor General’s Office reported that three women and four men, including a minor, were shot at their home in the municipality of Boca del Rio in the eastern state of Veracruz.

At this time, the deceased’s identities have not been made public.

State Attorney General Veronica Hernandez Giadáns said in a statement on Facebook that this was an attack against all Veracruzans and that “there will be no impunity.”

A National Guard, who remained anonymous, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the family ran a chain of butcher shops.

Local authorities have started investigating the family members’ deaths; however, no suspects have been named yet.

This tragic event happened after two priests and a tour guide were killed inside a church on June 27.

A religious order known as the Society of Jesus announced that the priests Javier Campos, 79, and Joaquin Mora, 81, were killed while “trying to defend a man who was seeking refuge.”

The man they were protecting was Pedro Palma, the tour guide.

A $250,000 reward has been offered for information about the alleged murderer. The state prosecutor’s office announced that this reward was the most extensive offer in its history.

CBS News reported that authorities identified José Noriel Portillo Gil, known by the alias “El Chueco,” for his connection to the triple murder.

The state prosecutor’s office announced that the alleged suspect was already wanted for his role in the murder of an American tourist in 2018.

Authorities believe that the suspect assaulted two other people after a disagreement over a baseball game and later kidnapped Palma. The latter managed to get away and went to the church for help.

The church’s Catholic Multimedia Center said that since 2018 seven priests had been killed under President Lopez Obrador’s administration.

The research also states that in 2016 three priests were killed in one week.

It also mentions that under the country’s former president, Enrique Peña Nieto, at least two dozen priests were killed in 2012.

CBS News reported that since Mexico deployed its army to combat the drug cartels in 2006, more than 340,000 people have been killed.

Experts have said that Chihuahua, the area where these events happened, is an important route to bring illegal drugs into the US and has been “violently contested between rival trafficking gangs.”