Zeniff attributes official Lamanite sanction to what is described as a raid on a soft target. Whether or not King Laman was behind this raid, the results were clear. There was a raid and Lamanites fell upon farmers in the field and killed them. Their flocks and harvest were taken.
The result is that the people who survived come to Zeniff for aid. This is certainly what was expected, and it was expected that Zeniff would need to retaliate. That retaliation is understandably deadly.
The list of armaments includes both distance and close combat weapons. The bow was certainly known later in Mesoamerica, but it might be a translation term for the atlatl, or spear-thrower. The arrows used in an atlatl are certainly similar to arrows, although longer. The slings were a common distance weapon. Recent finds in Guatemala have found forts with piles of smooth stones clearly ready for the defenders on the wall to use in their slings.
The Mesoamerican sword was an obsidian-lined club that was incredibly sharp. One story from the Conquest tells of a Quiche warrior decapitating a horse with a single blow from his obsidian-bladed sword. Artistic representations of curved weapons that might have been described as cimeters have also been found.