What you may not know about the Mexican cartel kidnapping

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. The four friends were traveling Friday in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates. They came under fire shortly after entering the city of Matamoros from Brownsville, at the southernmost tip of Texas near the Gulf coast, the FBI said in a statement Sunday.

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

Zalandria Brown of Florence, South Carolina, said she has been in contact with the FBI and local officials after learning that her younger brother, Zindell Brown, is one of the four victims.“This is like a bad dream you wish you could wake up from,” she said in a phone interview. “To see a member of your family thrown in the back of a truck and dragged, it is just unbelievable.”

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.

The U.S. citizens were found in a shack in rural area east of Matamoros called Ejido Tecolote on the way to the Gulf coast known as “Bagdad Beach,” according to Tamaulipas state chief prosecutor Irving Barrios. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the U.S. government is working to repatriate the bodies of the two killed.

The mother of LaTavia Washington McGee confirmed that her daughter is alive and is at a Texas hospital. Her mother added that her daughter has a good heart, and is a mother of six children. The wife of Eric James Williams, Michele Williams, confirmed her husband was taken during the kidnapping.

She said her husband survived as well.

“Eric went to Mexico with LaTavia as support for when she had her surgery. He is truly a good friend,” Michele Williams said. Michele Williams said she spoke with her husband on Tuesday morning and he was crying a lot. She said he was shot three times and went into surgery. All four of them what happened to them, they didn’t deserve it. All four of them are good people. I don’t think my husband knew that he was going to get into, any type of thing or could’ve been in any type of danger,” Michele Williams said.

She added that she’s currently not able to head to Texas right away due to “the place being on lockdown.” Zalandria Brown, of Florence, told the AP she learned that her younger brother, Zindell Brown, also a native of Lake City, is one of the four victims. She has also been in contact with the FBI and local officials. Shaeed Woodard is reportedly the fourth person kidnapped in Mexico. Woodard, 33, who worked at a hotel in Myrtle Beach, S.C., was a devoted uncle to many nephews and nieces.

U.S. Representative Russell Fry released the following statement Tuesday via social media: “It is heartbreaking to hear about the tragic killing of two of the four Americans abducted in Mexico. I want to share my deepest condolences with the victims’ family members and loved ones as they grieve. They came under fire on Friday shortly after entering the city of Matamoros from Brownsville, the southernmost tip of Texas near the Gulf coast, the FBI San Antonio Division office said in a statement Sunday.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Tuesday that the “DEA and the FBI are doing everything possible to dismantle and disrupt and ultimately prosecute the leaders of the cartels and the entire networks that they depend on.”

On Monday, Sen. Lindsey Graham said he will introduce a bill laying the groundwork for President Biden to use U.S. military force against Mexican drug cartels.

“You have drug cartels operating out of Mexico that are selling fentanyl into the U.S. It’s the leading cause of death for people 18-45. The Mexican gov isn’t doing anything about it. The former AG, Bill Barr said we should reserve the right to use military force to put these drug cartels out of biz. I don’t want a war with anybody, but I’m not going to sit on the sidelines and let Mexico become a safe haven for drug cartels to kill thousands, hundreds of thousands of Americans without doing something about it.”