Four Americans traveled to Mexico. Two came back alive.
Two of the four American citizens who survived a shootout and kidnapping in Mexico’s Matamoros city on Friday, March 3, are now back in the US.
A road trip to Mexico that was supposed to be for a cosmetic procedure for one of them turned deadly for four Americans when they were caught in a shootout between drug cartels. The incident left two of the Americans dead, and two others held prisoners for several days before being rescued.
The four Americans were traveling in a white minivan on Friday when they were met with heavy gunfire shortly after crossing the border in Matamoros as members of drug cartels waged war on the streets.
They were forced onto a pickup truck in Mexico after getting shot. Authorities say it was a case of mistaken identity.
Family members of two of the four Americans identified them. One of the gunfire victims, LaTavia Washington McGhee, was traveling to Mexico to get a “tummy tuck” procedure done and was accompanied by Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown, and Eric Williams.
A shocking video of their ordeal was circulated online on Friday, showing the four Americans hauled into a pickup truck. One woman was alive, one man appeared to move, and the other two looked unresponsive.
Mexican authorities searched for the Americans as the cartel moved them around and took them to a clinic.
Authorities finally found them on Tuesday, March 7, in a wooden shack in Ejido Tecolote, east of Matamoros. Mexican police arrested the man who was guarding them.
LaTavia McGhee and Eric Williams survived the ordeal, but Williams had a gunshot wound in his left leg. They were returned to the US on Tuesday and to the Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville.
Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown, who did not survive the attack, will be transported back to the US after forensic investigation in Mexico.
Violence in Matamoros has prevailed over the years due to warring factions of the Gulf drug cartel, with thousands of Mexicans having disappeared in the state of Tamaulipas alone.
