Two Americans who had been kidnapped alongside the Mexico border close to Texas final week are lifeless … this in keeping with state officers.
Americo Villarreal — the governor of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which encompasses the border metropolis of Matamoros, the place the abductions occurred — confirmed Tuesday that they’d discovered all 4 U.S. residents who had been taken by armed assailants … and a pair of had been deceased.
As for the two others, one is reported to be injured. No phrase but on the place they had been discovered or underneath what circumstances, however emergency personnel are on the scene and attending to the surviving Americans.
The crew of 4 — who’ve since been recognized by family and friends as Latavia McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and Eric James Williams — had been touring in a automobile with North Carolina plates, though it is unclear what state they had been touring from initially.
What we do know … they crossed over into Mexico from Brownsville, TX in a white minivan, shortly after which they had been descended upon by gunmen, who opened fireplace on them and snatched them up in the course of the street — a part of which was caught on video.
Some have assumed that is cartel-related, however to date … there is no proof of that. The FBI has additionally mentioned the group of 4 had no prison ties to Mexico, and so they additionally do not imagine they had been focused earlier than arriving in Mexico. This seems to have been carried out at random and on the spot by the criminals … who stay at massive in the intervening time.
The cause they had been heading all the way down to Mexico within the first place is that one in all them was planning on present process a tummy tuck south of the border. The U.S. State Department has warned Americans to avoid Matamoros, noting its excessive threat of crime/kidnapping.
There have been reviews this could possibly be a case of mistaken identification.