CNN
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Two of the 4 Americans kidnapped by armed gunmen in a Mexico border city on Friday had been found dead and two had been found alive, US and Mexican officials stated Tuesday.
Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios confirmed the 4 had been found. “Unfortunately, two dead. Investigation and intelligence work continue to capture those responsible,” he stated.
The 4 Americans had been positioned at what seems to be a medical clinic in Matamoros, a US official aware of the continued investigation advised CNN. One of the 2 survivors is severely injured, the official stated.
The our bodies of the 2 residents who had been killed shall be examined by Mexican authorities previous to being turned over to the US authorities, the official stated. The two surviving Americans are in the care of the FBI and have returned to the US for medical therapy at a Texas hospital, the official added.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price confirmed the 2 surviving Americans have returned to the US, and they had been working to repatriate the stays of the 2 who had been killed.
The information comes days after the group was kidnapped at gunpoint in Matamoros in what’s believed to be a case of mistaken identification.
The 4 Americans had been a tight-knit group of associates touring from South Carolina to Mexico so one in every of them – a mom of six – may bear a medical process throughout the border Friday, two members of the family advised CNN.
Latavia “Tay” Washington McGee, 33, drove to Mexico with Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and their good friend Eric Williams for the process however by no means made it to her physician’s appointment, her mom Barbara Burgess advised CNN.
The group received misplaced whereas attempting to find the medical clinic, in accordance with Washington McGee’s shut good friend, who didn’t wish to be recognized. They reached out to the physician’s workplace for instructions on Friday however had been struggling to speak with the workplace as a result of that they had a poor cellphone sign.
After crossing the border, they had been fired upon by unidentified gunmen, “placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men,” in accordance with the FBI.
Investigators consider the Americans had been focused by a Mexican cartel that seemingly mistook them for Haitian drug smugglers, the US official stated. The US residents don’t have any regarding felony historical past that has been recognized by investigators, the official stated.
An harmless Mexican bystander was additionally killed in the encounter, US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar stated.
Their abduction highlights the continued violence that has plagued some Mexican cities throughout the long-running Mexican drug war in addition to the rising enterprise of “medical tourism.”
Matamoros, a metropolis in the state of Tamaulipas, has a inhabitants of more than 500,000 people and is positioned simply throughout the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas. The US State Department has issued a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory for US residents considering of going to Tamaulipas, citing crime and kidnapping.
Federal and native Mexican authorities had been collaborating in the trouble to find the Americans and had arrange a joint activity power to speak with US officials, Barrios Mojica stated.
This journey was the second time Washington McGee, a mom of six kids, had gone to Mexico for a medical process, her mom stated.
She traveled to the nation for surgical procedure about two to 3 years in the past, Burgess stated. But this time, Burgess was knowledgeable by the FBI on Sunday that her daughter had been kidnapped and was in hazard.
“They said, if she calls me, to call them,” she stated.
Receipts found in the group’s automobile indicated the Americans had been in Mexico for medical procedures, a US official with data of the investigation advised CNN.
López Obrador stated Monday that the group had crossed the border to “buy medicines”
Washington McGee’s shut good friend advised CNN the journey was for a beauty surgical procedure. The group booked a resort in Brownsville and deliberate to drive into Matamoros for the surgical procedure, in accordance with the good friend.
A day after the kidnapping, the good friend turned involved and reached out to the physician’s workplace for extra data.
“When I reached out to the doctor’s office they told me that Latavia had reached out to them to ask them for directions because she was lost,” the good friend stated. “They sent me a screenshot of the messages and they said they sent her the address and asked her if she was using a GPS.”
The group of lacking Americans grew up collectively in South Carolina and had been bonded “like glue,” Brown’s sister Zalandria Brown advised CNN. She added that she and her brother are additionally shut.
“Zindell is like my shadow, he’s like my son, he’s like my hip bone. We’re just tight like that,” she stated.
Mexico has develop into a very standard vacation spot for “medical tourism,” attracting vacationers who could also be in search of cheaper alternate options or medical remedies which might be unapproved or unavailable in the US. But the CDC warns the rising pattern can carry harmful dangers relying on the vacation spot and facility, together with an infection and attainable post-procedure problems.
Mexico is the second hottest vacation spot for medical tourism globally, with an estimated 1.four to three million sufferers touring into the nation to benefit from cheap therapy in 2020, in accordance with Patients Beyond Borders, a world healthcare consulting firm.
Matamoros, nonetheless, is “not considered a primary medical travel destination,” stated Josef Woodman, the corporate’s founder, “largely because there are no internationally accredited medical centers/speciality clinics there, or in the immediate region.”
Mexico City, Cancun, and Tijuana are extra frequented and dependable locations in the nation, Woodman stated. On common, Americans can save 40% to 60% throughout the commonest main procedures acquired by medical vacationers in Mexico, in accordance with an evaluation of 2020 well being ministry information performed by Patients Beyond Borders.
Washington McGee’s aunt, Mary McFadden, advised CNN that when the household hadn’t heard from the group of associates by Sunday, they started looking on-line for any information associated to their journey vacation spot. Then, the household noticed a video McFadden described as displaying her niece being kidnapped.
“We recognized her and her blonde hair,” McFadden stated. She stated she additionally acknowledged her niece’s clothes from a reside video Washington McGee had posted to Facebook earlier Friday.
“This happened in plain daylight. We don’t know if she is dead or alive. The last picture we saw, she was walking alive,” McFadden stated.
“She is a mother and we need her to come back here for her kids,” she stated, including that Washington McGee’s kids vary in age from 6 to 18 years previous.
A video obtained by CNN exhibits a girl and different unidentified folks being roughly loaded right into a white pickup truck. CNN has confirmed the video matches the incident however has not independently confirmed it’s the 4 Americans proven in the video.
The video exhibits the girl being pulled or pushed onto the mattress of the truck by two unidentified folks as a 3rd visibly armed man watches. The three males then seem to pull a minimum of two limp folks onto the truck mattress, the video exhibits.
Additionally, images obtained by CNN seem to indicate fragments of the scene the place the scenario occurred, together with the automobile believed to have been pushed by the Americans crashed with one other automobile earlier than they had been taken at gunpoint from the scene.
The US residents had been driving a white minivan with North Carolina plates, in accordance with the FBI in San Antonio.
The FBI wouldn’t affirm the authenticity of the images, however CNN has geolocated the photographs and confirmed their authenticity with a US official with data of the investigation.
The images additionally present a girl and then sitting subsequent to 3 folks mendacity on the bottom exterior a white minivan. All the doorways of the van are open. It is unclear whether or not the 4 folks in the images are the US residents.
The lady then seems to have been loaded onto the mattress of a white pickup truck, beside which a number of folks might be seen mendacity on the road, the images present.
One photograph exhibits that an ambulance arrived, however it’s unclear if medical consideration was being offered.