Two Americans Dead And Two Others Found Alive After Violent Kidnapping In Mexico

Topline

Two Americans are dead and two others survived after being kidnapped and assaulted by armed men in Mexico Friday, Mexican officials announced Tuesday, after the four Americans from the Carolinas crossed the border into Matamoros, Mexico, to pursue a medical procedure.

Key Facts

The four Americans were located Tuesday morning and officials sent ambulances to recover them and offer medical care, Americo Villarreal, Tamaulipas state governor, said in a phone call during President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s news conference, multiple news outlets reported.

The group was found at what appears to be a medical clinic in Matamoros, a U.S. official told CNN, adding that one of the Americans is severely injured.

The two survivors are now safe and receiving treatment, a Mexican official told the New York Times, adding that at least one of the deceased Americans died at the scene of Friday’s attack.

Investigators believe a Mexican cartel mistakenly thought the Americans were Haitian drug smugglers and kidnapped them at gunpoint, a U.S. official told CNN.

Two of the Americans’ families have identified them to news outlets as Latavia “Tay” Washington McGee — who drove to Mexico with her friends for a medical procedure, her mother Barbara Burgess told CNN — and Zindell Brown, a Myrtle Beach resident who accompanied McGee in her attempt to get a tummy tuck in Mexico, his sister Zalandria Brown told the Associated Press.

The identities of the other Americans have not yet been made public, and the names of the deceased have not yet been released.

Irving Barrios, the attorney general for Tamaulipas, confirmed the updates in a tweet Tuesday and said the investigation was ongoing to “capture those responsible.”

Key Background

The group drove a white minivan with North Carolina license plates crossed the Mexican-American border on March 3 from Brownsville, Texas, and entered the Mexican town of Matamoros, the FBI said. After the Americans crossed the border they were met by an unidentified gunman who first fired at the minivan’s occupants and then moved them into another vehicle which fled the scene, the FBI said. In a video circulating online, which appears to show how at least part of the incident played out, armed men drag the four Americans—one who appears alive, one who appears to move their head, and two who appear injured or dead—to the bed of a white pickup truck. An innocent Mexican citizen was also killed during the violent attack, according to Ken Salazar, the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. The U.S. State Department’s travel advisory for Tamaulipas, the Mexican state where Matamoros is, currently advises U.S. citizens not to travel there, because of the risk of crime and kidnapping. This warning is not isolated; for years the U.S. consulate in Matamoros has posted security alerts warning of drug cartel violence including kidnappings. In October 2014, three U.S. siblings who disappeared while visiting their father near Matamoros were found shot to death and decaying in the sun. The Gulf Cartel, which is based in Matamoros, controlled the area for much of the 2000’s. In 2010, disagreements within the cartel led to a break up, which has left smaller gangs competing for the area, according to a 2019 Congressional Research Service report.

Further Reading

Fate Of 4 Kidnapped Americans in Mexico Still Unknown (Associated Press)