Four individuals from the United States were caught in a drug cartel shootout in Mexico. Two of them lost their lives, and the remaining two were held captive for several days in an isolated area before being rescued.
The incident occurred when the group’s minivan crashed and was fired upon soon after they entered the Mexican border town of Matamoros in Tamaulipas state. A Mexican woman in the vicinity also died due to a stray bullet, reports Aljazeera.
The four Americans were taken away in a pick-up truck, and the cartel that was apparently responsible for the attack relocated them, even bringing them to a medical clinic, to impede rescue efforts and create confusion, according to Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal.
The group was found in a wooden hut guarded by an arrested man. The operation to find them did not involve American law enforcement.
Matamoros is a city with a population of 500,000, located across the Rio Grande from Brownsville. The city has been plagued by violence and terror for years, as it is dominated by factions of the Gulf drug cartel that frequently engage in battles among themselves.
Thousands of Mexicans have disappeared in Tamaulipas state due to the violence. Mexican President López Obrador criticized the US media’s “sensational” coverage of the violence and expressed regret over the situation in the country.
Reuters
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What is the case?
On January 29, 2022, four Americans, including Eric Williams, Latavia McGee, Shaeed Woodard, and Zindell Brown, travelled together from the Carolinas to Mexico.
According to reports, one of them was going to have cosmetic surgery performed by a doctor in Matamoros. However, while driving in the city, their white minivan collided with another vehicle, and at least one bullet hole was found in the driver’s side window.
Immediately after the collision, several men with tactical vests and assault rifles arrived on the scene and surrounded the two vehicles. The gunmen then walked one of the Americans into the bed of a white pickup truck and dragged the other three victims into the same vehicle. Terrified civilian motorists sat silently in their cars, hoping not to draw attention, reports Aljazeera.
Two of the Americans, Woodard and Brown, were later found dead. The other two were reportedly released by the gunmen and found by the Mexican authorities. The exact details of what happened to the victims during their abduction are unclear, but reports suggest they were beaten and possibly tortured.
Reuters
The motive for the attack is not known, but Mexican authorities believe it may have been a case of mistaken identity. They suggest that the group was targeted due to their proximity to a known drug trafficking area.
However, family members of the victims dispute this theory and have called for a full investigation into the incident.
The abduction and killing of the Americans have raised concerns about the safety of tourists and travellers in Mexico, particularly in border areas known for drug trafficking and violence.
The incident has also highlighted the dangers of travelling to other countries for medical procedures, particularly when proper research and precautions are not taken.
What now?
In January 2021, two Americans were kidnapped while visiting a nature reserve in Mexico. Tamara Woodard and her boyfriend, Franky Ray Brown, was travelling with a group of friends when they were ambushed by a group of armed men, who forced them into vehicles and drove them away.
The other members of the group were left unharmed and immediately reported the incident to Mexican authorities.
Following an extensive search operation by Mexican authorities, the two Americans were found dead. The cause of their deaths has not been disclosed, but reports suggest that they may have been killed during a firefight between the kidnappers and Mexican security forces.
Reuters
US Attorney General Merrick Garland blamed the Mexican drug cartels for the deaths, stating that the DEA and FBI were doing everything possible to dismantle and disrupt these criminal networks. The FBI offered a $50,000 reward for the return of the victims and the arrest of the abductors.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised to punish those responsible for the kidnappings and killings. He referenced the arrests made in the 2019 killings of nine US-Mexican dual citizens in Sonora near the border.
The surviving Americans were taken back to the US with an FBI escort. They were transported to Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville, Texas, where one of them, Britney Garza, was treated for a non-life-threatening injury to her left leg.
The bodies of Woodard and Brown were taken to a morgue in Matamoros, Mexico for forensic work and will be turned over to US authorities.
The rescue mission was conducted with the assistance of Mexican military Humvees and National Guard trucks with mounted machine guns.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price thanked Mexican authorities for their efforts in the rescue and emphasized the need for accountability for the violence that has been inflicted on these Americans.