Posted on 03/07/2023 8:12:10 AM PST by Red Badger
Tamaulipas Gov. Américo Villarreal made the announcement over the phone at a presidential news conference Tuesday morning, noting that one of the surviving victims is wounded.
Two of the four Americans who were shot at by gunmen and kidnapped shortly after crossing the border into northern Mexico last week are dead, according to the governor of Tamaulipas state.
Gov. Américo Villarreal made the announcement over the phone at a presidential news conference Tuesday morning, noting that the other Americans are alive. One of the surviving victims, however, is wounded, he said. The person's condition was not disclosed.
The governor said details were confirmed by prosecutors earlier Tuesday morning. He said that ambulances and security personnel were going to give support to the victims.
It’s not clear where they were found.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said further details would be released later.
“We are very sorry that this happened in our country and we send our condolences to the families of the victims, friends, and the United States government, and we will continue doing our work to guarantee peace and tranquility," he said.
Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica tweeted Tuesday that the four U.S. citizens were found by “joint search actions.” He said that work is underway to capture those behind the kidnapping.
The FBI had been offering a $50,000 reward for the safe return of the U.S. citizens. The group was kidnapped Friday after driving into Matamoros, Tamaulipas, just south of Brownsville, Texas.
Dramatic video showing a gunman dragging people into a white pickup truck captured the kidnapping as it unfolded, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the matter confirmed.
Authorities have yet to identify the four people.
But one of the victims was identified as LaTavia Washington McGee by her cousin, Aliyah McCleod, who is acting as a family spokesperson.
McCleod said the group is from South Carolina, and had been traveling in a rental vehicle with North Carolina license plates when they entered Matamoros. The FBI confirmed that the group was traveling in a white minivan with North Carolina plates.
McCleod said the group had traveled to Mexico for a "medical procedure." She said her family was pleading for their safe return.
A law enforcement official with knowledge of the matter said a woman in the group had been seeking a cosmetic medical procedure. The official said cartel gunmen had targeted the group in a case of mistaken identity.
Zalandria Brown of Florence, South Carolina, told The Associated Press that her younger brother, Zindell, was among the four victims. She said she had been in contact with the FBI and local officials after learning her sibling had been kidnapped.
“This is like a bad dream you wish you could wake up from,” she told the news agency. “To see a member of your family thrown in the back of a truck and dragged, it is just unbelievable.”
Brown said her brother, who lives in Myrtle Beach, had been on the trip to accompany a friend who was traveling to Mexico for a procedure.
She also said that her brother had some reservations about them making the trip because of the potential dangers in Mexico.
“Zindell kept saying, ‘We shouldn’t go down,’” Brown told the AP.
At a news briefing in Washington on Monday, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration was "closely following the assault and kidnapping of four U.S. citizens."
"These sorts of attacks are unacceptable," she said, adding that U.S. law enforcement was in touch with Mexican authorities, as were the departments of State and Homeland Security.
"We will continue to coordinate with Mexico and push them to bring those responsible to justice," Jean-Pierre said.
Ken Salazar, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said in a statement Monday that an “innocent Mexican citizen was tragically killed” during the kidnapping.
President López Obrador said at a news conference that the Americans were in Mexico to buy medicine, a common practice for people seeking cheaper medications across the southern border.
The FBI and Mexican law enforcement are investigating, with the bureau asking the public for information leading to arrests. Anyone with information is urged to call the FBI’s San Antonio division at 210-225-6741.
The State Department has a “Do Not Travel” warning in place for Tamaulipas state due to “crime and kidnapping." It said organized crime activity, including gun battles, armed robberies and kidnappings, are common along the border and in Ciudad Victoria.
“Criminal groups target public and private passenger buses, as well as private automobiles traveling through Tamaulipas, often taking passengers and demanding ransom payments,” the warning says.
Ha! A friend who was a cashier at a Krogers, said you wouldn’t believe what we see. Black gals with elaborate nails, hair, jewelry, usually talking on their cells would come in using WIC. The cart helpers would rave about their cars! It was an ongoing joke at the store.
Why is our government emphasizing this when our own citizens were kidnapped and killed? Were the US citizens not innocent?
Funny how that works when they feel like they have been wronged.
Diplomat speak for, “I’m sorry we made you kill our citizens.”........
An act of war by the cartels against the US and we should respond accordingly. Trump wanted to use the military to go after them but somehow the Defense Dept refused and got away with it. I hope he learned his lessons on how to deal with insubordination when he comes back to the White House.
A lot of retired “winter Texans” go to Mexico for dental and small medical care as well as cheaper prescriptions.
I hope it’s not senior citizens.
Another thing Americans are traveling to Mexico for is the stomach sleeve, which usually isn’t covered by insurance and is half the cost of having the procedure done in the US. A few of my daughter’s friends did this. Personally I think they’re nuts and instead just eat less/exercise more.
They will do everything in their power to stop that from happening...............
Probably to get butt injections..apparently that is all the rage to do, go down to Mexico to get it done cheap
That all depends upon what stage the drug transaction was at before things went sideways.
p
“LaTavia Washington McGee” - funny, doesn’t look Irish.
There are lots of YouTube and TikTok videos about women going to Mexico for plastic surgery. They take a chance but save huge amounts of money. I originally I thought this was a drug deal gone bad but the details seem to check out for the cosmetic surgery angle. I really do feel bad for these folks, it seems like the woman going to Mexico for a really innocent but bad reason, just got two of her friends/relatives killed and possibly even a third. Her life is shattered forever, she’ll have to live with survivors guilt and no amount of plastic surgery can change that.
She went for a tummy tuck. She probably lost some weight but without surgery the loose skin does not go way unless you are really young.
For many years, I have been telling friends and relatives not to go to Mexico. Their response is usually, “The resorts are heavily protected so we are safe.” When I saw the first video posted, it looked like two of the people thrown in the back of the truck appeared to be dead, or severely wounded. They probably did not survive the attack.
Yeah?? Wait till Kalifornia begins paying them off. Expect the population here to increase.
Yeah?? Wait till Kalifornia begins paying them off. Expect the population here to increase.
A LOT
I shop at a family-run grocery store that carries a lot of interesting items. Its run by an immigrant, so he gets a lot of other immigrants.
The owner likes to complain about taxes, so we get along well. I was mentioning the high price of lobsters and asked "who can afford this?"
He pointed to a large, shiny Cadillac Escalade out in the parking lot, with some Russians/Ukrainians in it: "they can - and they just paid with Food Stamps..."
Uh oh... they shot black people??!? Baaaad move, Mexicans! THEIR lives MATTER to U.S.
General Black Jack Pershing, call your office. Gonna need to put together an A-team pronto! This is some serious stuff!
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