American Family Attacked While Visiting Mexico, Two Dead and Others Injured

Three people are dead, including two Americans from Chicago, in an attack that took place in Mexico on Friday.

Vicente Peña Rodríguez and Antonio Fernández Rodríguez, who are both Americans, were killed, as was local resident Jorge Eduardo Vargas Aguirre of Durango, Mexico, the Durango Attorney General’s Office said, according to ABC.

Vicente Peña Rodríguez’s teenage son, whose name was not given, was wounded and was listed in critical condition, the attorney general’s office said.

The trip had begun as a birthday celebration for the 14-year-old, according to WMAO-TV.

The teenager was put in a medically induced coma.

A Chicago teenager is on life support after being shot while visiting Mexico, where three of his family members were killed in the same incident. https://t.co/d8w29bcayB

— FOX 32 News (@fox32news) January 1, 2025

Family members have said they want the teen transferred to the U.S., but Mexican doctors say he is too fragile.

“I feel very devastated because they wiped out my entire family,” Vicente Peña, grandfather of the teenage victim and father of Vicente Peña Rodríguez, said.

“It was a massacre … because my son was shot four times in the head and once in the shoulder, and the other boy was also shot four times, once in the shoulder, and the other boy who was with them was also shot three times,” Peña said.

Details of the shooting near the town of Las Palmas were unclear, other than that the group was traveling in an SUV with Illinois license plates when it was attacked.

Maria Elena Hernandez, the teenage victim’s grandmother, said she learned of the shooting when, while still in Chicago, her daughter called her, according to WLS-TV.

“She said ‘Mom, they killed my boy. They killed Junior. They killed my brother-in-law. I don’t know what to do,’” Hernandez said.

Two brothers are dead and a 14-year-old boy is fighting for his life after they were shot while visiting family in Durango, Mexico over the holidays. https://t.co/Wo2wrggOQs

— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) December 31, 2024

“As you can only imagine this is a nightmare for his mother. And right now what we’re trying to do is provide that advocacy and security,” Julia Contreras of United Giving Hope said. The group is trying to bring the teenage victim back to the U.S.

“His little brother just learned of the whole situation,” Contreras said.

“It is very heart-wrenching and currently this family is living a nightmare. We just want to bring them home so they can be safe,” she said.

“We are coordinating everything, but it’s a challenge in the hospitals in Mexico. They have their train of thought, and they have their protocols and procedures, and they don’t care if you’re a United States citizen. So it’s nightmarish to be in another country, like Mexico, and not have the adequate, appropriate medical care,” Contreras said, according to CBS.

Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.