Cleburne family killed in Mexico robbery spree

by JONATHAN BETZ

WFAA

Posted on December 24, 2011 at 9:55 PM

Updated today at 2:29 PM

CLEBURNE ? A Cleburne mother and two daughters have been killed in a series of attacks on buses in northern Mexico. Maria Hartsell, 39, and her daughters Karla Hartsell, 19, and Cristina Hartsell, 13, were among the seven people who lost their lives.

?I can?t sleep at night,? said Hartsell?s mother-in-law Margaret Schneider of Cleburne. ?I shut my eyes and I see them.?

Schneider says Hartsell ? who is a U.S. citizen ? was traveling with her four children to visit family members for the holidays in the region known as Huasteca. A group of five gunmen attacked three buses in Mexico?s Gulf Coast state of Veracruz on Thursday in what authorities described as a violent robbery spree.

Soldiers apparently killed the gunmen later.

Schneider said Hartsell?s other daughter Angie was also shot, but her condition is unknown. She said another grandchild, Mike Hartsell, 10, survived, but told her he watched the gunmen murder his mother and sister after killing the bus driver.

?Little Mike told me? they turned around and came back and shot her (his mother) in the head with the gun and they shot Karla,? Schneider said. ?He said he knew that his mom and Karla were dead.?

Schneider said Hartsell worked in the cafeteria at Cleburne?s Santa Fe Elementary School.

The U.S. Consulate has urged Americans to ?exercise caution? when traveling to Veracruz, and to ?avoid intercity road travel at night.?

While the specific area where the Thursday attacks occurred is not frequented by foreign travelers, other parts of the Huasteca? ? a hilly, verdant area on the Gulf coast? ? are popular among Mexican tourists and some foreigners.

The attack occurred near the border with the state of Tamaulipas, an area that has been the scene of bloody battles between the Zetas and Gulf drug cartels. According to some estimates, more than 40,000 people have been killed over the past five years in Mexico?s ongoing drug war.

Schneider said she begged her daughter-in-law not to take the trip.

?I told her not to go to Mexico. I just kept repeating it,? Schneider said. ?Why did they have to lose their life? It?s just senseless.?

E-mail jbetz@wfaa.com

Source: http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Cleburne-family-killed-in-Mexico-136193938.html

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