January 1, Horrifying: 4 Americans Kidnapped in Mexico in ‘Misunderstanding’

Four Americans were kidnapped and assaulted by gunmen in Mexico, in a horrifying situation that officials deemed a “misunderstanding.”

On Friday morning, Eric James Williams, Latavia “Tay” McGee, Zindell Brown, and Shaeed Woodard were ambushed by gunmen roughly 2.5 hours after crossing the U.S. border into Matamoros, a popular medical tourism destination for Americans, in a white minivan.

“Shortly after crossing into Mexico, unidentified gunmen shot the passengers of the vehicle,” the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City said. “The gunmen herded the four U.S. citizens into another vehicle and fled.”

Officials announced Tuesday that Brown and Woodard were found dead. Williams and McGee have returned to the U.S., according to their families.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Mexican officials said the Americans were not the intended targets.

It “seems to be that it was a misunderstanding,” said Irving Barrios, Attorney General of Tamaulipas.

Officials said the two survivors were found Tuesday morning inside of a small wooden shack in a rural area east of Matamoros. Mexican authorities found McGee, who was visibly shaken but not injured, and Williams, who had been shot three times in the legs. Officials said that Williams’s wounds were not life threatening.

However, Woodard, McGee’s first cousin, and Zindell Brown, her friend, were both dead.

Hakquan Burgess, another first cousin of McGee’s, told The Daily Beast: “She watched them die.” He said that the three cousins grew up together and were more like siblings. He also noted that McGee traveled to Matamoros last year without incident.

The governor said that throughout the three days they were held captive, the Americans were moved to various locations in order to create confusion and prevent them from being rescued.

As of Tuesday afternoon, one person had been arrested, a 24-year-old who had been in charge of watching the victims inside the house, officials said.

McGee, a mother of five who survived the ordeal, had traveled from South Carolina to Mexico for a cosmetic medical procedure known as a tummy tuck.

Barbara Burgess, McGee’s mother, said she spoke with her daughter over the phone from the hospital room in Brownsville, Texas, where she is recovering from the ordeal.

“She was crying because her brother got killed and she watched him die,” Burgess told Myrtle Beach, South Carolina ABC affiliate WPDE. “She watched two of them die. They died in front of her.”

Williams, the other American survivor, called his wife on Tuesday as he was being taken to a hospital in Texas.

“It was just tears of joy,” his wife told ABC News.

Jerry Wallace, Williams’s cousin, said that his cousin is “doing better than what he was,” but is mentally reeling from the terrifying ordeal.

“He’s just upset about his friend getting killed right in front of him, which anybody else would be with the stuff he went through,” he told the New York Post.

The U.S. State Department has issued a travel advisory for Tamaulipas state, warning Americans, “Do not travel due to crime and kidnapping.”

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday that the State Department is “in the process” of obtaining the deceased victims’ bodies.

“We thank our Mexican and U.S. law enforcement partners for their efforts to find these innocent victims and the task forward is to ensure that justice is done,” Price said.

Zindell Brown’s sister started a GoFundMe for his funeral expenses, and possibly a second autopsy.

“We are still working with the authorities to understand when Zindell’s body will be released and sent to us here in South Carolina,” the GoFundMe page reads. “From there, we were told that we may have to pay for a second autopsy ourselves. As a family, we are not prepared for all of the unexpected costs due to this sudden tragedy.”

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby offered condolences to the victims and their families.

“We offer our deepest condolences to the friends and families of those who were killed in these attacks,” Kirby said.

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Sources: ABC News, The Daily Beast