In an act that shocked the residents of a city who thought they had seen it all, five adolescents in the border city of Ciudad Juárez — a stone’s throw from El Paso, TX — between the ages of 11 and 15 are being investigated for stoning, stabbing, and burying a six year-old boy on May 16.

Some familiar with the case initially tried to paint it as a game gone awry. According to a Yahoo! News report, the five juvenile suspects were playing with Cristopher Raymundo Marquez Mora, but then “tied him up and they put a stick on his neck that semi-asphyxiated him,” according to a statement from the local prosecutor’s office. “When the boy fell to the ground, they hurled rocks at him, they stuck a knife in his back, and once dead, they dragged him where they deposited the body in a shallow dig.”

The statement went on to say the adolescents covered Cristopher’s body with dirt and put plants and a dead animal on the surface in a poor attempt to hide him. The six children were neighbors and all knew each other.

Local community leaders are blaming the cruel act of violence on the environment caused by Mexico’s drug war. “There’s a strong presence and culture of organized crime and a lack of culture of rule of law,” said Juan Martin Perez, executive director of the Children’s Rights Network, a non-governmental organization. “The children reflect what they experience every day.”

Investigators found Cristopher’s body after interrogating the other children, who include two 13-year-old girls, one 11-year-old boy and two 15-year-old boys. The two 15-year-old boys could be jailed if found guilty, but the other three other minors face “other types of sanctions,” prosecutors said.

Cristopher’s mother refuses to accept her son’s murder as a game gone too far. “It’s illogical for it to be a game,” she told Yahoo! News. “They should pay for my son’s life.”

One of Christopher’s aunts warned, “We want vengeance. If they don’t give us justice, we will take revenge.”

Sylvia Longmire is a border security expert and Contributing Editor for Breitbart Texas. You can read more about cross-border issues in her latest book, Border Insecurity: Why Big Money, Fences, and Drones Aren’t Making Us Safer.