Drug hijackers mistakenly open fire on 23 migrants, killing 2

DAVID L. TEIBEL and CLAUDINE LoMONACO

Published: 03.31.2007

A planned hijacking of a drug load turned tragic Friday when bandits mistakenly opened fire on 23 illegal immigrants, including three small children, hidden in a pickup, state and federal authorities said.

A man, Antonio Perez-Perez, 30, and a woman, Consuelo Perez-Roman, 28, were killed. A third victim, Everando Perez-Salas, 47, was injured.

Perez-Perez was the father of two of the children, a 7-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy. No information was available on the third child.

The group consisted of three families from Chiapas, Son., who were headed to Tucson and Los Angeles, authorities said.

Two suspects, Rosario Humberto Araujo-Monares, 21, and Martin Flores-Gaxiola, 18, were arrested Friday at a campsite a half-mile south of the shooting, just west of Green Valley.