World
Photos show Mexican children wielding rifles as volunteer police force battles organized crime
Photos have emerged showing children in Mexico wielding rifles as they have been recruited by a volunteer police force to combat organized crime, a report says.
The children, who are as young as 12, paraded around a sports field before joining the patrol in Ayahualtempa, a village in the southwestern Guerrero state where authorities report being overwhelmed by kidnappings, according to Reuters.
“We can’t study because of lawlessness,” one of the teenagers was quoted by the news agency as telling the Milenio television channel, adding that he had learned how to shoot a gun following a series of lessons.
In early January, an alleged cartel drone attack in the Guerrero state left five people dead.
MEXICO MILITARY SWARMS POPULAR AMERICAN TOURIST SPOT DURING CRIME SURGE
Children hold rifles before a ceremony to join the ranks of the community police a few days after an armed group abducted four people from Ayahualtempa, in Mexico’s Guerrero state, on January 24. (Reuters)
Four members of a family in Ayahualtempa were kidnapped and have been missing since last Friday, Reuters reports, citing the Guerrero state prosecutor’s office.
“We’re not going to allow them to kidnap us anymore, or for people to keep disappearing,” local official Antonio Toribio told Reuters, noting that the children are reinforcing the volunteer police force protecting the village of about 700.
CARTEL HUMAN SMUGGLING BUSINESS IS TURNING ENTIRE BORDER TOWNS INTO WAR ZONES
The children who have joined the volunteer police force in Ayahualtempa, Mexico, are as young as 12 years old, Reuters reports. (Reuters)
The reported recruitment comes as Mexican authorities are cracking down on surging crime in the popular tourist destination, Tulum, as authorities seek to create a “safer and calmer environment.”
According to Tulum Mayor Diego Castañón Trejo, an additional 30 members of the Mexican Navy were added to the existing law enforcement presence in the bustling Caribbean coastal destination.
Children are seen at a ceremony while joining the volunteer police force in Ayahualtempa, Mexico. (Reuters)
Trejo said this week that the additional 30 military personnel will bring the current force up to more than 250.
Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
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By James McManagan, Paul Sonne, Malachy Browne and Jackeline Luna
June 19, 2026
World
Man charged with attempted murder, released after allegedly forcing toddler into crocodile enclosure at zoo
Man FORCES child into crocodile enclosure
A British man has been arrested after allegedly forcing a 3-year-old boy into a crocodile enclosure at a zoo. The child suffered critical injuries, and authorities say the suspect did not know the boy as the investigation continues.
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A man was released from custody on Friday after he was charged with attempted murder for allegedly forcing a 3-year-old boy into a crocodile enclosure at a zoo.
Cambridgeshire police said that the man, who remains unidentified, wasn’t fit to be interviewed.
The boy suffered critical injuries in the incident at Johnsons of Old Hurst, a farm and zoo in Huntingdon, England, north of London.
The 30-year-old man will remain on bail until Sept. 30, pending further inquiries.
GEORGIA MOM’S WALMART TRIP DEVOLVES INTO ‘TUG-OF-WARRING’ IN DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO SAVE HER SON
A crocodile rests inside an enclosure at Johnsons of Old Hurst, a farm and zoo in Old Hurst, Cambridgeshire, Britain, on April 14, 2026. (Dorota Dee Trajdos/Reuters)
“The man, who is not known to the victim, was assessed as not being fit for interview,” police said in a statement.
The boy is in stable condition, after reportedly suffering a broken arm and pelvis.
He was saved from the crocodile by Tracey Johnson, the wife of the zoo’s owner.
MOTHER JUMPS INTO WATER TO SAVE 4-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER WHO FELL BETWEEN CRUISE SHIP AND DOCK
“I know Tracey very well and she’s a lovely lady and it’s nothing more than I’d expect from her,” a local told BBC News. “She’d always put her own life at risk to save someone else. She’s an extraordinary lady and very brave.
The villager added that Johnson put herself in “immense danger” during the rescue.
The owners said their tropical house would remain closed until further notice.
Crocodiles rest inside an enclosure at Johnsons of Old Hurst farm and zoo in Old Hurst, Cambridgeshire, Britain, on April 14, 2026. (Dorota Dee Trajdos/Reuters)
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the boy and his family following the incident that occurred today,” the owners wrote on social media.
Johnsons of Old Hurst is a farm and zoo north of London in Huntingdon, England. (Google Maps)
Huntingdonshire district councillor Charlotte Lowe said she couldn’t “fathom how it’s happened because they’ve got all the right protection and safety equipment, for want of a better word, in there,” The Guardian reported.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Cambridgeshire Constabulary for comment.
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US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his comments on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, saying she asked him “over and over” for a photo when the pair met at the G7 summit in France earlier this week.
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Following the summit, Trump told an Italian journalist that he “felt sorry for Meloni” after she “begged me to take a picture with her”.
Meloni hit back in a video posted to social media, branding Trump’s claims as “completely made up” and insisting that neither she nor Italy begs anyone for anything.
The once close pair’s relationship has grown increasingly fractious in recent months, particularly since Rome refused to provide the US support for its operations in Iran and after Meloni defended Pope Leo XIV, who was criticised by the Trump administration over his remarks on the war and the US’s immigration policies.
“Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Saturday. “She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon”.
“Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her “numbers up.” No thanks!!!” Trump added.
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