Recovered/Located MEXICO - 4 Americans missing, feared kidnapped in Matamoros, Mexico, 3 Mar 2023

[PommyMommy]

4 Americans missing, feared kidnapped in Matamoros, Mexico

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Four U.S. citizens have been kidnapped after gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in the northern Mexico border city of Matamoros, the FBI said Sunday. The four had entered Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, on Friday.

apnews.com

Four U.S. citizens have been kidnapped after gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in the northern Mexico border city of Matamoros, the FBI said Sunday.

The four had entered Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, on Friday. They were travelling in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates.

The FBI San Antonio Division office said the vehicle came under fire shortly after it entered Mexico.

“All four Americans were placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men,” the office said. The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for the return of the victims and the arrest of the culprits.

[...]

 

[dotr]

4 U.S. citizens missing, feared kidnapped in Matamoros, Mexico

The four, traveling in a van with North Carolina license plates, entered Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas, on Friday.

www.khou.com

''Photos and video circulating on social media appear to show the incident including the group's white minivan. There's also video that appears to show a shootout and then people being loaded into a pickup truck and hauled away.
That matches the account of what the FBI said happened.
The FBI San Antonio Division office said the vehicle came under fire shortly after it entered Mexico.
“All four Americans were placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men,” the office said. The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for the return of the victims and the arrest of the culprits.''

 

[Ceska]

There really is no area of Mexico that is safe any more, and certain areas are especially bad. It has gone from bad to worse, such a shame, it is a beautiful country with many decent people.

 

[Snoopster]

There really is no area of Mexico that is safe any more, and certain areas are especially bad. It has gone from bad to worse, such a shame, it is a beautiful country with many decent people.

The border region has always been unsafe and continues to be unsafe.
It seems that this might have been a targeted attack.

Have the victim's names been released?

 

[dotr]

''Migrants mostly form Central America wait in line to cross the border into the US at the Gateway International Bridge, between the cities of Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Mexico, on March 15, 2021, in Brownsville, Texas. PHOTO BY CHANDAN KHANNA /AFP via Getty Images''

rbbm

Kidnapped Americans reportedly had gone to Mexico for cosmetic surgery

Mexican and U.S. authorities said they were working to find four Americans who were shot at by gunmen in northern Mexico and then kidnapped.

torontosun.com

''Tamaulipas, across from Texas’s southern tip, is one of six Mexican states to which the State Department advises citizens against traveling, citing the risk of crime and kidnapping.

“Criminal groups target public and private passenger buses, as well as private automobiles traveling through Tamaulipas, often taking passengers and demanding ransom payments,” according to State Department guidance. Heavily armed members of criminal groups often patrol border regions in the state, the guidance says.

The same day of the kidnapping, the U.S. Consulate in Matamoros said it had received police reports of a deadly shooting in the city and ordered U.S. government officials to avoid the area in the vicinity of Calle Primera and Lauro Villara. There was no immediate indication that the incident was connected to the kidnapping.''

 

[Chelly]

The US State Department has issued a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory for US citizens thinking of going to Tamaulipas, citing crime and kidnapping.

“Criminal groups target public and private passenger buses, as well as private automobiles traveling through Tamaulipas, often taking passengers and demanding ransom payments,” the State Department advisory says.

Matamoros was also the site of a large tent encampment of migrants – mostly Venezuelans and Haitians – hoping to cross into the US to request asylum

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/06/americas/fbi-mexico-kidnapping-us-citizens/index.html

 

[SuziQ]

The four victims traveled to buy medication.

Four Americans kidnapped after driving across US-Mexico border Four Americans kidnapped after driving across US-Mexico border via Home | Daily Mail Online

 

[Ceska]

Horrifying. And to buy medication (the U.S. needs to get its act together about some of the high med prices).
I feel badly for them, and all of the others doing the same (to get meds, medical help), and the migrants.
But, then, I guess there are many who do not watch the news or pay attention to the news, and perhaps really had no idea just how extremely dangerous it is right now in that area.

 

[Ceska]

I watched the video, it appears that maybe two of the people are not alive, they were shown being dragged and carried (by 2 men) and tossed into the back of a pickup truck. It is being stated (online in some news stories on Facebook) that they were perhaps targeted by mistake (by cartel members) and were not the intended targets.

I see that CNN is now reporting the same.... https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/06/americas/fbi-mexico-kidnapping-us-citizens/index.html

 

[Gardenista]

The four victims traveled to buy medication.

Four Americans kidnapped after driving across US-Mexico border Four Americans kidnapped after driving across US-Mexico border via Home | Daily Mail Online

OMG, this is soooo scary

 

[DrQ]

IMHO This is scary and dangerous! This may not have a good outcome. Sad

 

[PrairieWind]

I watched the video, it appears that maybe two of the people are not alive, they were shown being dragged and carried (by 2 men) and tossed into the back of a pickup truck. It is being stated (online in some news stories on Facebook) that they were perhaps targeted by mistake (by cartel members) and were not the intended targets.

I see that CNN is now reporting the same.... https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/06/americas/fbi-mexico-kidnapping-us-citizens/index.html

When I saw that video I also really wondered if at least one of them wasn't dead. Hard to tell, but it doesn't look good.

 

[MAHBOOBOO]

From the Daily Mail article:

"A U.S. official with knowledge of the incident told CNN that the four Americans were in Mexico for a medical procedure, according to documents that were found inside their vehicle. The official said that the cartel henchmen confused the group with Haitian smugglers. "

Four Americans kidnapped after driving across US-Mexico border

Four United States citizens have been kidnapped after a group of gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in the border city of Matamoros just south of the United States.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Unsolved]

The border region has always been unsafe and continues to be unsafe.
It seems that this might have been a targeted attack.

Have the victim's names been released?

This article says:

"The four Americans have been identified as Latavia "Tay" McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and Eric James Williams. According to their mother, McGee and her cousin Woodard were among the victims in Matamoros along with their friends Brown and Williams."

and also (BBM)

"Barbara Burgess, 54, McGee's mother, told ABC News that her daughter went to Mexico for a medical procedure and that before the trip, she warned her not to go, but McGee insisted that she would be OK."

4 US citizens kidnapped in Mexico identified; crossed border to 'buy medicines'

I might be way wrong, but "A medical procedure" makes me think of a cosmetic surgery that is less expensive when performed out of the US.

 

[steeltowngirl]

Hickson and Grant said they were able to identify pictures of Brown that were being shared on the internet showing the car believed to have been driven by Brown and his friends crashed with another vehicle before they were taken at gunpoint from the scene.

"I knew immediately that was him. And you know even when I watch them placing them on the back of the truck. I was able to follow each one as they would be placed on the truck," Hickson said.

“And I knew that he was a third one that was placed on the truck, at that point, my heart was low.. Because of how they were treating him. They were just slamming them on the truck like they were dead dogs and that was the most heartfelt moment so far.”

She said waiting for more information from the FBI and other authorities on her son and his friends is the hardest part.

https://wjla.com/news/nation-world/four-americans-kidnapped-and-missing-in-mexico-identifies-of-some-confirmed-matamoros-south-carolina-shaeed-woodard-tay-mcgee-zindell-brown-border-town-fbi-law-enforcement-search-and-rescue-state-department-joe-biden-diplomacy-foreign-policy

 

[IceIce9]

A tummy tuck surgery apparently, not to purchase meds

4 kidnapped Americans crossed into Mexico for health care

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (AP) — Four Americans who traveled to Mexico last week to seek health care got caught in a deadly shootout and were kidnapped by heavily armed men who threw them in the back of a pickup truck, officials from both countries said Monday.

apnews.com

Zalandria Brown said her brother, who lives in Myrtle Beach, and two friends had accompanied a third friend who was going to Mexico for a tummy tuck surgery. A doctor who advertises such surgeries in Matamoros did not answer calls seeking comment.

 

[IceIce9]

A law enforcement official with knowledge of the matter said a woman in the group had been seeking a cosmetic medical procedure. Cartel gunmen targeted the group in a case of mistaken identity, the official said.

4 U.S. citizens kidnapped at gunpoint in Mexico, FBI says

Cartel gunmen targeted the group in a case of mistaken identity, a U.S. official said.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[PommyMommy]

I watched the video, it appears that maybe two of the people are not alive, they were shown being dragged and carried (by 2 men) and tossed into the back of a pickup truck. It is being stated (online in some news stories on Facebook) that they were perhaps targeted by mistake (by cartel members) and were not the intended targets.

I see that CNN is now reporting the same.... https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/06/americas/fbi-mexico-kidnapping-us-citizens/index.html

This is just horrific. Years ago I crossed over the bridge to Matamoros when visiting a friend in Texas. Never again! MOO

Noting:

[...]

“From the first moment, communication was established between state and federal authorities to address the criminal event, in which two affected vehicles were located, one of them with license plates from the US state of North Carolina,” Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica said at a news conference.

An investigation was underway, authorities said. Investigators are processing vehicles, obtaining ballistics and fingerprint data, taking biological samples for genetic profiles, and gathering surveillance camera footage.

[...]

The photos show a woman looking and then sitting next to three unmoving people lying on the ground outside a white minivan. All the doors of the van were open. It is unclear whether the four people in the photos were the US citizens.

The woman then appears to have been loaded onto the bed of a white pickup truck, the photos show. Several unmoving people could be seen lying on the street next to the pickup truck, the photos show.

[...]

 

[10ofRods]

Horrifying. And to buy medication (the U.S. needs to get its act together about some of the high med prices).
I feel badly for them, and all of the others doing the same (to get meds, medical help), and the migrants.
But, then, I guess there are many who do not watch the news or pay attention to the news, and perhaps really had no idea just how extremely dangerous it is right now in that area.

And it's kind of random, too. Thousands of Americans cross daily and most are not kidnapped. I used to be pretty cavalier about it (lived in southern Mexico for a while; will not lie - aspects of it were very scarcy, but I was very naïve and also thought of myself as lucky).

I'm surprised that this group of travelers doesn't sound like they are elderly and certainly there were men in the group. I fear that they were perhaps scammed in some way (to bring a lot of cash to pay for the supposed surgery - this is a known thing).

"Mistaken identity" implies that these poor travelers resembled (van-wise or personally) the people sought by the cartel/bad guys? I just am shaking my head about this, as I'm wondering who exactly the bad guys were targeting (people clearly American; American license plates; men and women traveling together, clearly a kind of vacation - a medi-vacation, but how would the bad guys even known that?)

I'm very skeptical of the "mistaken identity" phrase, unless there is other information.

Mexico is really fun (and cheap) - until it isn't. I'm trying not to be a Negative Nancy, but, well, after living in El Paso/Juarez for quite some time and being fairly adventurous myself (lived alone in Southern Mexico), I hesitate very much to encourage trips to the border area.

IMO.

 

[Snoopster]

And it's kind of random, too. Thousands of Americans cross daily and most are not kidnapped. I used to be pretty cavalier about it (lived in southern Mexico for a while; will not lie - aspects of it were very scarcy, but I was very naïve and also thought of myself as lucky).

I'm surprised that this group of travelers doesn't sound like they are elderly and certainly there were men in the group. I fear that they were perhaps scammed in some way (to bring a lot of cash to pay for the supposed surgery - this is a known thing).

"Mistaken identity" implies that these poor travelers resembled (van-wise or personally) the people sought by the cartel/bad guys? I just am shaking my head about this, as I'm wondering who exactly the bad guys were targeting (people clearly American; American license plates; men and women traveling together, clearly a kind of vacation - a medi-vacation, but how would the bad guys even known that?)

I'm very skeptical of the "mistaken identity" phrase, unless there is other information.

Mexico is really fun (and cheap) - until it isn't. I'm trying not to be a Negative Nancy, but, well, after living in El Paso/Juarez for quite some time and being fairly adventurous myself (lived alone in Southern Mexico), I hesitate very much to encourage trips to the border area.

IMO.

I really appreciate your insight. thank you.