By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON – The FBI said Tuesday night that it had not ruled out the possibility that three people with ties to the U.S. consulate were murdered Saturday in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez as a result of a mistake in identity.
But special agent Andrea Simmons, an FBI spokeswoman for the El Paso Office, emphasized that there was no evidence to suggest that — only that it wasn’t being ruled out.
“We don’t know,” she said. “It’s pretty early in the investigation. Nothing has been ruled out.”
She said Monday that the three victims appeared to be targets of the gunmen. But she said there’s no indication at this point they were targeted because of their ties to the consulate.
The Mexican government said Monday it suspects the Aztecas street gang and the drug organization La Linea may have had a hand in the shootings, according to the El Paso Times. Both are linked to the Juarez Drug Cartel.
Some media outlets have reported that officials have not ruled out the possibility that the drug traffickers were trying to send a message to the U.S.
Simmons mentioned that in January more than a dozen teens at a party in Juarez were murdered in what turned out to be a mistake in identity.
