Shocking pictures show the moment two American citizens were rescued from a stash house in Mexico where they were held hostage by drug cartel members.
LaTavia “Tay” Mcgee, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and Eric James Williams were kidnapped in the city of Matamoros, an area dominated by the Gulf drug cartel, on Friday (3 March). Video circulating online showed the group, who had travelled from South Carolina, being thrown into a truck by armed men in broad daylight after a shootout.
Mexican authorities confirmed on Tuesday that Ms McGee and Mr Williams have been returned to US officials at the Mexican border with Brownsville, Texas. Ms McGee was unharmed while Mr Williams suffered a gunshot wound on his right leg but is expected to recover.
Photos by the Associated Press showed the moment the two survivors were rescued by Mexican authorities. They were found at a stash house in a rural area east of Matamoros called Ejido Longoreño on the way to the local beach known as Playa Baghdad, a source close to the investigation told the AP.
Mr Woodard and Mr Brown were found dead. Their bodies will be repatriated once a forensic evaluation is finished in Mexico.
Governor of Tamaulipas Américo Villarreal said during a press conference that the group was moved from different locations, including a clinic, during the three days that their kidnapping lasted in an attempt to throw off investigators.
A suspect, 24-year-old Jose N, has been arrested. The man was tasked with making sure that the victims didn’t escape and he was captured at the scene, Mr Villareal said.
Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica said that Mexican officials believe members of the Gulf drug cartel are behind the attack. US officials familiar with the investigation told CNN that authorities believe the cartel mistook the victims for Haitian drug smugglers.
At an early press conference on Tuesday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador claimed that the tragedy will be seized by the American media to portray Mexico as a dangerous country, in stark contrast with their “silence when Mexicans are killed in the US.”
He went on to say that GOP politicians will also use the crime as an opportunity to push “their agenda.”
“We continue to work every day towards peace and are very sorry that this has happened in our country,” President López Obrador said. “We send our condolences to the victims’ friends and family and the American people. And we will continue to work towards peace.”
The group had travelled to Matamoros because McGee planned to have a tummy tuck surgical procedure done by a local doctor, her mother told ABC News.
The US State Department has advised Americans not to travel to Tamaulipas due to the risk of crime and kidnapping, with the region featuring on its “Level 4: Do Not Travel” list.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday that any attacks on American citizens under any circumstances were unacceptable.
Ms Jean-Pierre said more information will be released after family members of the two fatal victims and two kidnapping survivors are updated by US officials on any developments made in the case.
She also noted that the Biden administration remains committed to “disrupting transnational criminal organizations including Mexican drug cartels and human smugglers.”
Officials familiar with the investigation previously told CNN that authorities believe a Mexican cartel mistook the victims for Haitian drug smugglers.
“In the past few months, President Biden signed an executive order giving the Department of Treasury expanded authorities to penalize cartel organizations and those who control or enable them, and we have imposed powerful new sanctions against cartel organizations in recent weeks,” Ms Jean-Pierre said.
“We remain committed to applying the full weight of our efforts and resources to counter them. Right now. our immediate concerns are for the safe return of our citizens, the health and well-being of those who survived this attack, and the support which must be rendered to the families of those who need it.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also decried the attack on the American citizens and vowed to get justice for their families.
“We appreciate the hard work of the Justice Department the FBI and the DEA and the Department of Homeland Security … we’re grateful for their swift response to this dreadful incident and for their continued collaboration with Mexican authorities,” Mr Kirby told reporters.
“We’re going to work closely with the Mexican government to ensure that justice is done in this case.”
When asked whether the White House was considering policy changes in response to the attack, Mr Kirby said that there were no immediate remedies but insisted US authorities are working extensively to get the fatal victim’s bodies and the survivors back on American soil.
”Right now our focus is very squarely on these four Americans and the families that have been affected by the attack and I think you’ll hear more from the Justice Department as they learn more and can have more to share,” he added. “But it’s just too soon for me to be able to speak to a any policy changes or, or vectors as a result of this attack.”
