MEXICO CITY—Two of the four U.S. citizens that were kidnapped over the weekend shortly after crossing the Texas border into Mexico have been found dead. The remaining two Americans have been found alive, one of them with serious injuries.
“We haven’t stopped looking for them since Friday, and today, about 35 minutes ago we could confirm that two of them are deceased, one injured and one found alive,” Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal said in a phone call to Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador during his morning press conference on Tuesday.
Videos by VICE
The Americans crossed over to the border city of Matamoros in the state of Tamaulipas on Friday, apparently so one of them could get a medical procedure, according to reporting by CNN. But shortly after arriving, gunmen unloaded a hail of bullets on their vehicle.
The group were from the Lake City region in South Carolina in a white mini-van. They were identified as Latavia “Tay” Washington McGee, 33, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and their friend Eric James, according to CNN.
Investigators believe the Americans were targeted by the Gulf Cartel, one of the two criminal groups fighting to control the region, who likely mistook the Americans for a rival gang, a U.S. official familiar with the ongoing investigation told CNN.
The Americans have no criminal history, according to the official.
Video of the aftermath of the attack, which took place in broad daylight, spread quickly on social media and showed a terrifying scene. Armed men forced a woman into the back of a white pick up truck. The other three Americans, who were injured, were then dragged by the men and loaded into the back of the same truck.
The city of Matamoros is currently ground zero of an ongoing war between rival factions of the Gulf Cartel. Shootouts in the city are common, and bodies are often removed from the crime scene and disposed of in order to hide evidence of the cartels’ gruesome crimes.
