(CNN) -- Three people connected to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, were killed in two drive-by shootings, a senior White House official told CNN Sunday.





Two of the victims were an American employee at the consulate and her U.S. citizen husband. Their 1-year-old child, who was in a vehicle with the couple at the time of the shooting, survived the incident, according to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office.





The American couple were found dead inside a white Toyota RAV4 with Texas license plates, according to the Chihuahua state attorney general's office.





The woman was shot in the neck and left arm, while the man had a bullet wound near his right eye, officials said.





"We know that the U.S. citizens were targeted," Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz told CNN, saying a police officer witnessed a car shooting at the Americans' car. "We know they were chasing them. We know they wanted to kill them."





The Americans were identified as Arthur Redelfs, 34, and Lesley Enriquez by the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, where Redelfs worked as a detention officer.





Redelfs was a 10-year veteran of the department, according to Jesse Tovar, a spokesman for the sheriff's office.





"On behalf of the men and women of the Sheriff's Office, I would like to extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to the family during this difficult time," said Sheriff Richard Wiles. "Our thoughts and prayers are with them."





Authorities retrieved only one shell casing, from a 9 mm weapon.





About 10 minutes before authorities received the call, they were alerted to a body inside a 2003 Honda Pilot. Inside was the husband of the Mexican employee, identified as Jorge Alberto Salcido Ceniceros, 37. Reyes said the victim was a state police officer who was married to a Mexican employee at the U.S. consulate.





Two children, 4 and 7, were injured in that shooting and transported to the hospital, the attorney general's office said.





Police recovered two shells at that scene from an assault rifle, authorities said.





"The president is deeply saddened and outraged by the news of the brutal murders of three people associated with the United States Consulate General in Ciudad Juarez," National Security Council Spokesman Mike Hammer said in the statement Sunday. "He extends his condolences to the families and condemns these attacks on consular and diplomatic personnel serving at our foreign missions. In concert with Mexican authorities, we will work tirelessly to bring their killers to justice."





In response, the U.S. State Department authorized the temporary relocation of employees' families working in border-area consulates.





"These appalling assaults on members of our own State Department family are, sadly, part of a growing tragedy besetting many communities in Mexico," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement Sunday night. "They underscore the imperative of our continued commitment to work closely with the Government of (Mexican) President (Felipe) Calderón to cripple the influence of trafficking organizations at work in Mexico."





The families of employees at U.S. consulates in Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros, are allowed to leave for a period of 30 days "in response to an increase in violence along the Mexican side of its border with the U.S.," State Department spokesman Fred Lash told CNN.





After 30 days, the authorization can be renewed, depending on a review, Lash said, adding that this was not a mandatory evacuation.





The announcement was part of a warning to American citizens regarding travel to Mexico.





The warning urges U.S. citizens to delay nonessential travel to parts of the states of Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua, where Juarez is located, because of recent violent attacks. U.S. government employees are restricted from traveling to all or parts of these three states.





The attacks include the kidnapping and killing of two resident U.S. citizens in Chihuahua, the warning states.





"Some recent confrontations between Mexican authorities and drug cartel members have resembled small-unit combat, with cartels employing automatic weapons and grenades,"
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