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Jail guard Arthur Redelfs and his pregnant wife Lesley Ann Enriquez, who was an employee at the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, died in the March 13 ambush as they were driving away from a children's party. The husband of a second consulate employee in a separate vehicle also was shot to death.

Authorities said in a statement released late Tuesday that Ricardo Valles de la Rosa, a member of the Barrio Azteca prison gang, told investigators Redelfs was the intended target, not his wife, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

Mexican authorities said Valles de la Rosa said he had been ordered several days earlier by unnamed leaders of the gang in El Paso to find Redelfs' vehicle in Ciudad Juarez. He said he located it March 13 and contacted other gang members, who ordered him to follow it. He said he trailed the car until other gang members in another car picked up the target and soon after opened fire on it.

"The information the suspect has given is still being verified, so the authorities are not releasing, for the moment, other information about probable participants or the material and ... masterminds of the double homicide, nor their probable motive," the statement by Mexican authorities said.

The reason for the attacks remains unclear, though one theory is that the Aztecas were upset with Redelfs for some action he took at the county jail where members of the gang have been held, the Times said.