Four Mexican police officers ambushed and killed seven members of a drug-trafficking family, including two small children and a teenager, allegedly to fend off an attack from the traffickers, press reports said Monday. The massacre occurred early Sunday in Michoacan state, near to the village of San Antonio La Huerta, as the family was returning from a festivity in two trucks. The attackers fled and were still fugitives on Monday. Four policemen, including the first commander of the Michoacan municipal police, shot at the family, which grew and sold marijuana, because they themselves had allegedly been threatened by the drug traffickers after refusing to comply with their request for protection. Apparently, the drug traffickers wanted police to let them freely move their drug cargos in the region, but police refused, sparking the threats. Some 300 AK-47 assault gun empty shells were found at the massacre site. Besides the seven fatal victims, another five people, including three children, were wounded and taken to hospital, the reports said. After the attack the four officers returned to their precinct to leave their arms and vehicles before fleeing. --SP 2238 Local Time 1938 GMT
